TITLE:
Water Desalination Using a Humidification-Dehumidification Technique—A Detailed Review
AUTHORS:
A. E. Kabeel, Mofreh H. Hamed, Z. M. Omara, S. W. Sharshir
KEYWORDS:
Humidification; Dehumidification; Distillation; System; Heat Exchanger
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Resources,
Vol.4 No.3,
July
3,
2013
ABSTRACT: Solar humidification-dehumidification desalination technology has been reviewed in detail in this paper. This review would also throw light on the scope for further research and recommendations in active distillation system by humidification and dehumidification (HDH). Also in this article, a review has been done on different types of (HDH) systems. Thermal modeling was done for various types of humidification and dehumidification(HDH) distillation system. From the present review, it is found that the humidification-dehumidification desalination process HDH will be a suitable choice for fresh water production when the demand is decentralized. HDH is a low temperature process where total required thermal energy can be obtained from solar energy. Capacity of HDH units is between that produced by conventional methods and solar stills. Moreover, HDH is distinguished by simple operation and maintenance. Also from the present condensed review, it was observed that an increase in evaporator and condenser surface areas significantly improves system productivity. But prior to implementing any techniques in design improvement, it is necessary to optimize the MEH unit by optimizing its component size to understand the effect of feed water and air flow rates. Although a fair amount of simulation studies have been conducted in the past, further design simulation is required to fully understand the complicated effects of air and water flow rates, the optimum size of individual components or modules of the unit and to generate a comprehensive model for the system.