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Abstract
The solar-driven humidification-dehumidification desalination system with a geothermal dehumidifier (SD-HDH-GD) has been given special attention, especially for subsurface irrigation. This contribution scrutinizes the performance of the geothermal dehumidifier of the SD-HDH-GD system. To this aim, a comprehensive three-dimensional transient computational fluid dynamics model of the geothermal dehumidifier and the surrounding soil is developed. An experimental setup is established to verify the developed numerical model. The effect of several operating parameters on the performance of the system is examined. The sensitivity of the water yield, recovery ratio, and gain output ratio to the studied parameters are analyzed. It is demonstrated that the system has different behaviors regarding these measures. Therefore, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the performance of the SD-HDH-GD system, all measures should be considered. According to the obtained results, the maximum amount of condensed water, gain output ratio, and recovery ratio obtained using the performed optimization are 180.05 kg/12 h, 41.20%, and 0.31, respectively, for the open-air HDH cycle. Moreover, to reach the optimum system performance, the temperature of the inlet air stream to the geothermal dehumidifier should be in the range of 60–70 °C, and its relative humidity must be as much as possible.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Alireza Habibi
Alireza Habibi is currently an M.Sc. student of Mechanical Engineering at the Mechanical Department of the Sharif University of Technology. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Sharif University of Technology. His M.Sc. thesis is about the modeling and conceptual design of geothermal dehumidifiers of HDH desalination systems. His areas of interest include renewable energies, heat transfer, thermodynamics, and machine learning.
Behrad Asgari
Behrad Asgari is a Sharif University of Technology Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in mechanical engineering from Amir Kabir University of Technology, Tehran Polytechnic. His areas of interest include multiphase flow, renewable energies, and desalination systems.
Ali Hakkaki-Fard
Ali Hakkaki-Fard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Université Laval, Québec, Canada. He received his Ph.D. from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) in 2011. His areas of interest include renewable energies, heat transfer enhancement, and thermodynamics.