A novel integrated thermal-/membrane-based solar energy-driven hybrid desalination system: Concept description and simulation results

Young-Deuk Kim; Kyaw Thu; Kim Choon Ng; Gary L Amy; Noreddine Ghaffour

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2016.05.002

A novel integrated thermal-/membrane-based solar energy-driven hybrid desalination system: Concept description and simulation results

Water Res. 2016 Sep 1:100:7-19. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.05.002. Epub 2016 May 3.

Authors

Young-Deuk Kim¹, Kyaw Thu², Kim Choon Ng³, Gary L Amy³, Noreddine Ghaffour⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 15588, Republic of Korea; Water Desalination and Reuse Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: youngdeuk@hanyang.ac.kr.
² Water Desalination and Reuse Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia; Green Asia Education Center, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, 6-1 Kasuga-koen, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan.
³ Water Desalination and Reuse Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Water Desalination and Reuse Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: noreddine.ghaffour@kaust.edu.sa.

PMID: 27176649
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.05.002

Abstract

In this paper, a hybrid desalination system consisting of vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) and adsorption desalination (AD) units, designated as VMD-AD cycle, is proposed. The synergetic integration of the VMD and AD is demonstrated where a useful effect of the AD cycle is channelled to boost the operation of the VMD process, namely the low vacuum environment to maintain the high pressure gradient across the microporous hydrophobic membrane. A solar-assisted multi-stage VMD-AD hybrid desalination system with temperature modulating unit is first designed, and its performance is then examined with a mathematical model of each component in the system and compared with the VMD-only system with temperature modulating and heat recovery units. The total water production and water recovery ratio of a solar-assisted 24-stage VMD-AD hybrid system are found to be about 21% and 23% higher, respectively, as compared to the VMD-only system. For the solar-assisted 24-stage VMD-AD desalination system having 150 m(2) of evacuated-tube collectors and 10 m(3) seawater storage tanks, both annual collector efficiency and solar fraction are close to 60%.

Keywords: Adsorption desalination (AD); Emerging desalination technology; Hybrid system; Membrane distillation (MD); Solar energy.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Distillation
Membranes, Artificial*
Solar Energy*
Sunlight
Water Purification

Substances

Membranes, Artificial