Renewable Energy 69 (2014) 253e259

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Technical note

Experimental investigation of a novel multi-effect solar desalination

system based on humidificationedehumidification process
Zehui Chang a, b, Hongfei Zheng a, c, *, Yingjun Yang a, Yuehong Su c, Zhanchun Duan a
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
b
College of Energy and Power Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, China
c
Institute of Sustainable Energy Technology, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents an experimental investigation of a novel multi-effect solar desalination based on
Received 23 October 2013 humidificationedehumidification process. The main objective of this work is to determine the opera-
Accepted 24 March 2014 tional and performance characteristics of the system with use of packed porous plastic balls and finned
Available online
heat exchangers. The effect of operating parameters such as the heating temperature, the seawater flow
rate (Mw) and the air flow rate (Va) on the system performance is studied. The performance indicators
Keywords:
GOR (defined as the ratio of the condensation heat of water produced relative to the heat input) and yield
Solar desalination
of the device are calculated from the measured temperatures and flow rates for different operating
Humidificationedehumidification
Multi-effect
conditions. A set of performance curves under the different desired conditions are presented. The
Higher temperature dehumidifier experimental results indicate that the yield of the system increases with increasing the water flow rate
Lower temperature humidifier and the air flow rate; the yield of the unit can reach 63.6 kg/h at the water flow rate of 1000 kg/h. Owing
to re-utilisation of condensation heat between two desalination loops, the GOR of the multi-effect solar
desalination system can reach about 2.1. A further improvement of this multi-effect solar humidification
edehumidification desalination could be expected through optimisation of design and operation.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction dehumidification principle is considered as the most viable option

For a solar humidificationedehumidification desalination sys-
tem, the basic processes such as solar collection, evaporation and
condensation can be enhanced respectively to increase the thermal
utilization efficiency. In addition, a humidificationedehumidifica-
tion desalination system has several appealing and distinguishing
features including its simple layout, flexibility in capacity, low
temperature operation, moderate installation, cheap operating cost
and ability to be combined with renewable energy sources. Solar
energy is one of the ideal renewable energy resources to provide
many advantages compared to fossil fuel. Thus, solar energy pro-
vides a solution to cover the energy needed for a humidificatione
dehumidification desalination system with no negative impact on
the environment. Based on the characteristics mentioned above, a
solar desalination system based on humidificatione
* Corresponding author. School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of
Technology, Beijing 100081, China. Tel.: þ86 10 6891 2510; fax: þ86 10 6841 2865.
E-mail addresses: hongfeizh@bit.edu.cn, changzehui@163.com (H. Zheng).
among solar desalination technologies, and become a hot pursuit
by many investigators [1e4].
Up to now, many experimental studies and theoretical analysis
have been carried out on the purpose of the improvement of the
design, operation, performance evaluation and efficiency [5e9].
Prakash et al. [10] proposed a significant parameter known as the
‘modified heat capacity rate ratio’ in the thermal design of hu-
midificationedehumidification systems and in simultaneous heat
and mass exchange devices. A pilot-scale humidificationedehu-
midification unit with a peak production capacity of 700 L/day has
been constructed and detailed experiments have been performed
on this unit. It has been observed that the humidificationedehu-
midification systems without mass extractions need to be operated
at a top brine temperature as high as possible in order to ensure a
high GOR which is the ratio of the condensation heat of water
produced relative to the heat input. A new method for exergy
analysis of humidificationedehumidification desalination systems
was described by Ashrafizadeh et al. [11], following which various
parametric effects on exergy losses was investigated. Results indi-
cated that the mass transfer phenomenon does not have any effect

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.03.048
0960-1481/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
254 Z. Chang et al. / Renewable Energy 69 (2014) 253e259
on the total exergy losses of the humidificationedehumidification
systems and flow rate of the unheated fluid and the maximum
temperature of the system have key roles in the total exergy losses.
Then the dehumidifier in the air-heated systems has a larger role
than the water-heated systems in the irreversibility. An experi-
mental investigation of a new solar desalination prototype using
humidificationedehumidification principle outdoors was con-
ducted by Zhani et al. [12]. The temporal evolutions of the tem-
perature of air and water and the relative humidity at the inlet and
the outlet of each component of the system have been studied. The
experimental results showed that the outlet and the inlet tem-
peratures at different component levels have the same trends as
solar radiation, and the ambient air temperature has insignificant
effect on thermal performance of the unit.
Farsad et al. [13] carried out a study on the thermodynamic
analysis of a desalination unit with humidificationedehumidifica-
tion cycle. During the study, solar energy was considered as a
source of heat. The mass and energy balance equations have been
developed for the humidifier, condenser and other cycle compo-
nents. Its aim was to analyse cycle parameters and to determine the
yield of fresh water. In addition, optimum conditions of the plant
have been achieved by using design of experimental (DOE) method.
A 1000 L/day solar humidificationedehumidification system was
constructed and analysed by Yuan et al. [14]. This system was
composed of a solar air heater field, a solar water collector, a hu-
midifieredehumidifier unit, a pre-treatment and other subsystems.
Performance of the solar air heater field and the humidifier was
investigated by experimental tests. The results showed that water
production of the system could reach 1200 L/day under the average
intensity of solar radiation of 550 W/m2.
In order to enhance utilization efficiency of the latent heat of
condensation, gain more fresh water output per square metre area
of solar collector and reduce the energy loss of humidificatione
dehumidification desalination unit, a serious of designs of multi-
effect solar humidificationedehumidification desalination system
were presented by some researchers, and the process efficiency, the
heat and mass transfer process and the relation among the different
control parameters of the unit were studied. A study of a new
generation of water desalination installation by solar energy using
the SMCEC (Solar Multiple Condensation Evaporation Cycle) prin-
ciple was reported by Ben et al. [15]. The fresh water obtained by
this new principle favours its use for producing water for drinking
and irrigation. Modelling, simulation and experimental validation
for this type of installation were carried out, and the models of the
different sections of the unit were developed. The obtained results
were then compared against the experimental results. The exper-
imental design and computer simulation model of a multi-effect
humidificationedehumidification (MEH) solar desalination sys-
tem has been presented by Garg et al. [16]. The circulation of air in
the humidifier and dehumidifier towers was being maintained by
natural convection. The system modelling was constructed based
on various heat and mass transfer equations and their numerical
solutions. And the experimental results were plotted along with
theoretical results, to examine the model validity.
Further work in improving the efficiency of multi-effect solar
humidificationedehumidification desalination system was carried
out by Hou et al. [17]. In such a unit, multi-effect humidificatione
dehumidification desalination process was plotted according to
pinch technology, and then the water rejected from multi-effect
humidificationedehumidification desalination process was reused
to desalinate in a basin-type unit further. Due to the multiple use of
the latent heat of condensation, the GOR of the system could reach
2e3. A model and a structured procedure to optimize the shape and
structure of a multi-effect humidificationedehumidification desa-
lination unit were introduced by Morteza et al. [18]. Based on
considering maximum production rate as the objective function,
optimum design parameters of the multi-effect humidificatione
dehumidification desalination unit were derived by using the ge-
netic algorithm method under the fixed total volume condition. The
results showed that the inlet cold and hot water temperatures and
the column heights play important roles in the constructal design
of a multi-effect humidificationedehumidification desalination
unit.
However, the previous researches on the multi-effect solar hu-
midificationedehumidification desalination system have some
defects, the latent heat of vapour condensation is not utilized suf-
ficiently, thus leading to low usage rate of solar energy and low
water yield per unit area of solar collector. Based on the previous
researches, this paper therefore presents a novel multi-effect solar
humidificationedehumidification desalination device. The present
work carried out some investigation on a novel generation of water
desalination system. The paper describes the desalination process
of the multi-effect solar humidificationedehumidification desali-
nation system and assesses the performance of the device under
different operation conditions.
2. Description of the experimental set-up and working
principle
2.1. Structure parameters and working principle
The humidificationedehumidification process is based on the
fact that the moisture content of air increases progressively with
elevated temperature. For example, 1 kg of dry air can carry almost
0.67 kg more vapour when its temperature increases from 60 to
85  C.
The system presented in this paper consists of three closed
loops: a solar loop that can produce hot water and two water
desalination loops with the function of producing desalinated
water. The solar loop is a thermosyphon water heater connected
with a heat exchanger to deliver heat to the seawater. The desali-
nation loops include several hot seawater sprayers, a higher tem-
perature humidification tower, a higher temperature
dehumidification tower, a lower temperature humidification tower
and a lower temperature dehumidification tower, which are
configured to form an upper loop and a lower loop. Air is circulated
by fans within each loop. Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of
the experimental set-up and Fig. 2 shows its photograph.
In the higher temperature and lower temperature dehumidifi-
cation sections, the two heat exchangers are made of copper tubes
with corrugated aluminium fins and they are connected to each
other in series. To increase the contact surface between air and
seawater, the porous plastic balls 9 were packed in the higher
temperature and lower temperature humidification sections to
achieve a larger wetted surface and an efficient humidification of
the air. These humidification and dehumidification sections are
contained in two thermally insulated cylinders which were con-
structed of 2 mm stainless steels by welding and had the insulation
thickness of 25 mm.
The operating principle of the experimental unit can be seen
from Fig. 1. Firstly, the seawater is fed to the lower temperature
dehumidifier to condense the water vapour of the moist air coming
from the lower temperature humidifier. At the exit of the lower
temperature dehumidifier, a small part of seawater is rejected to
the outside and the remainder enters the higher temperature
dehumidifier to condense the water vapour in the moist air flowing
from the higher temperature humidifier. After that, the heated
seawater is divided into two parts. One enters the higher temper-
ature humidifier tower through sprayer 8 and the other flows into
the lower temperature humidifier tower.
 Z. Chang et al. / Renewable Energy 69 (2014) 253e259 255

14

15 6a
T9
T3 5a
7

T8
8
constant 10 11
9 4
solar temperature 12
collector
water T4
for
tank T7
water
T5 T2 sea water
5b
6b 2
1

T6 sea water
T1
13
3

brine desalinated water

Fig. 1. Schematic drawing of the experimental set-up and the thermocouple locations. 1-circulation pump; 2-value; 3-water flow meter; 4-condenser; 5a-higher temperature
dehumidifier; 5b-lower temperature dehumidifier; 6a-higher temperature humidifier; 6b-lower temperature humidifier 7-primary sprayer; 8-secondary sprayer; 9-porous plastic
ball; 10-stainless steel basket; 11-fan; 12-overflow pipe; 13-water linerboard; 14-humid air; 15-heat exchanger. T1-Temperature of seawater inlet to the condenser of the lower
temperature dehumidifier; T2-Temperature of seawater outlet to the condenser of the lower temperature dehumidifier; T3-Temperature of air inlet to the condenser of the higher
temperature humidifier; T4-Temperature of air outlet to the condenser of the higher temperature humidifier; T5-Temperature of air inlet to the condenser of the lower temperature
humidifier; T6-Temperature of air outlet to the condenser of the lower temperature humidifier; T7-Temperature of seawater inlet to the heat exchanger; T8-Temperature of seawater
outlet to the heat exchanger; T9-Temperature of seawater inlet to the evaporator of the higher temperature humidifier.

The seawater accumulated at the base of the higher temperature

humidifier tower is circulated through the heat exchanger where
the seawater is heated up and returned to the higher temperature
humidifier tower through sprayer 7. In the higher temperature
humidifier tower, due to heat and mass transfers between the hot
seawater and the air stream, the moisture content of air increases.
At the bottom of the higher temperature humidifier there is a liquid
collector, where brine is collected as it drains down the stainless
steel basket 10. In the liquid collector, a vertical overflow pipe 12 is
set to ensure the seawater level to a desired degree. Eventually, the
overflowed brine is rejected into the stainless steel basket of the
lower temperature humidifier, and then is evacuated to the outside.
The resulted saturated moist air is transported to the higher
temperature and lower temperature dehumidifier where it con-
tacts with the heat exchangers and cooled by the seawater to its
dew point. Part of the water vapour in the moist air therefore turns
into fresh water, which is collected at the bottom of the higher
temperature and lower temperature dehumidifier.
The main characteristics of this solar desalination system are
outlined as follows: (1) a relatively large fraction of the latent heat
of condensation in the higher temperature dehumidifier is directly
re-utilized in the lower temperature humidifier, so the thermal
efficiency of the system could be greatly improved. (2) The simple
structure makes it easy to operate and maintain. (3) The unit is
operated under atmospheric pressure with no requirement for
pressure-bearing material and the operating costs are low. (4) The
unit is not sensitive to temperature, even if the temperature of the
water in the solar water heater is lower (<50  C), the pure water
could be still produced.

2.2. Size of the experimental unit

The dehumidifiers share the same structure with the humidifier

of the unit. The height and diameter of device are 1200 mm and
650 mm respectively. The air channel, through which humid air
Fig. 2. A photograph of the experimental set-up without insulation. circulates from humidifier to dehumidifier, has a diameter of
256 Z. Chang et al. / Renewable Energy 69 (2014) 253e259
260 mm. The diameter of porous plastic ball is 26 mm, and the
packing height of the balls is 400 mm. The capacity of the constant
temperature water tank is 250 L. The total area of heat exchanger
between the water solar collector and the feed seawater system is
5 m2. The rated water flow rate of pump installed at the entrance of
the lower temperature dehumidifier is 2.5 m3/h. The rated water
flow rate of pump installed at the exit of the higher temperature
humidifier is 2.3 m3/h. In addition, feed seawater mass flow rate
was adjusted to a desired value throughout the experiment by
using a valve.
2.3. Data collection
In order to accurately evaluate the performance of the device, a
serious of indoors experiments for solar humidificationedehu-
midification desalination system were carried out. The steady-state
productivity and transient-state productivity were studied. The
yield performance of the transient-state was examined under a
fixed operating temperature. Experimental data includes air ve-
locity, inlet seawater temperature, ambient temperature and feed
seawater flow rate. The temperatures of the seawater and air at
different locations in both the dehumidifier and humidifier were
measured using the Pt100 thermocouples, connected to a 32
channel digital data-recording device, JLS-XMT. A mercury ther-
mometer, having a minimum scale division of 1  C, was used to
measure the ambient temperature. Feed seawater mass flow rate
was measured using a turbine flow meter, which was placed at the
exit of the circulation pump. The air flow rate was calculated from
the air velocity, measured by a multifunction anemometer with
screw probe at the humidifier outlet.
All sensors connected to a data acquisition system were cali-
brated before being used to determine their sensitivity. During
experimentation, all the parameters of the transient-state and
steady-state experiment were measured and recorded at 5 min
interval and 10 min interval, respectively. While the number of the
yield measuring point was 5, and the average yield of five different
points of the steady-state experiment was adopted as the value of
production capacity of device. The detailed technical specifications
of instruments used in experimental setup are presented in
Table 1.
3. Results and discussion
In the experiment, tap water was used in the experiment
instead of seawater. There are three electric heaters installed in the
constant temperature water tank to represent a solar water heater.
In addition, the heating power can be adjusted so as to meet the
experimental requirement. The tests were performed to assess the
influence of the following parameters on the yield of the unit.
1) temperature of the water in the constant temperature water
tank;
2) mass flow rate of the feed seawater;
3) flow rate of the humid air;
4) temperature of the feed seawater;
Table 1
Technical specifications of instruments used in experimental setup.
Instrumentation Range
Average wind speed measurement 0.1e20 m/s
chip/Kanomax-6006
Liquid turbine flow 0.15e1.5 m3/h
meter/LWYC-10
32 channel digital 200e600  C
data-recording/JLS-XMT
3.1. Transient-state performance of the unit
The transient-state performance of the unit is an important
indicator of the unit stability. Reaching a steady state in a short time
is necessary to increase the desalination efficiency of the unit,
especially for solar desalination system. In order to measure the
transient-state performance, when the temperature of heating
water T8 reached 75  C, the unit started to operate and the other
parameters mentioned above were measured at 5 min interval.
Continuous measurements were carried out from 8:40 am to 10:20
am on a day. In addition, flow rate of the humid air was 4.2 m/s. The
5-min yield and accumulated yield of the unit were recorded. Un-
der the same condition, the temperature of every measured point
inside the unit was recorded. The variation curves of the yield with
the operation time are shown in Fig. 3, and the temperature vari-
ations within 100 min are shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 3 shows profiles of the 5-min yield and accumulated yield
variation with the operation time on 8 April 2013. The 5-min yield
increases quickly at the beginning of the experiment, and reaches
relatively steady state at 10:05 am. Meanwhile, the accumulated
yield increases with the operation time all the time. The reason
behind this behaviour can be interpreted with the help of Fig. 4. It
can be seen from Fig. 4 that the trend of the variation of temper-
ature with the operation time at every measured point is the same
as that of the 5-min yield. This is due to the increase of heating
temperature causes an increase in the temperature of the humid air
entering the dehumidifier, that is, the relative humidity of the air
increases, and result in an increasing productivity of the unit.
However, the increase of the contact time between the feed
seawater and humid air induce a quickly elevated temperature of
the feed seawater, which leads to a weaker condensation effect and
slow increasing rate of the yield. After 90 min operation, the quasi-
steady state of the unit was obtained.
3.2. Steady-state performance of the unit
In the process, the recycle air in the unit undergoes significant
changes in heat and mass transfer. The process is very complicated
and it is difficult to calculate accurately the quantities of heat and
mass transfer in the main body and the yield of the unit. In order to
simplify the yield calculations, the recycle air is considered as
saturated at local temperature, the heat losses from the unit are
ignored. It is supposed that the pressure inside the unit is 101.3 KPa.
The humidity of the saturated air was calculated using the
following empirical correlation developed from reported data [19].
3.6 40
yield of 5 min
3.0 accumulated yield
Accumulated yield / kg
30
Yield / kg/5min
2.4
1.8 20
1.2
10
Accuracy 0.6
2.0%
0.0 0
0.5% 08:30 08:45 09:00 09:15 09:30 09:45 10:00 10:15 10:30
Time
0.5%
Fig. 3. Variation of the yield in the system with the operation time.
 Z. Chang et al. / Renewable Energy 69 (2014) 253e259 257

Fig. 5 illustrates a comparison between calculated and measured

75 T8 T7 variation of the yield with heating at different feed seawater mass
T3 T4 flow rate on the device productivity. It shows that the yield rate
increases with an increase of feed water mass flow rate and heating
T5 T6 temperature at a flow rate of the humid air of 3.9 m/s. However, the
60
T9 increase of yield during the heating process varies slowly until the
heating temperature is 75  C, after which the trend grows sharply.
Temperature

45
30
15
08:45 09:00 09:15 09:30 09:45 10:00 10:15 10:30
Time
Fig. 4. Variation of the temperature in the system with the operation time.
W ¼ 2:19  106 T 3  1:85  104 T 2 þ 7:06  103 T  0:077
where T is the temperature of the saturated air,  C.
Then the fresh water yield of the unit produced in the humidi-
fier will be
p that when the humid air flow rate increases, the temperature of
Gv ¼ ðWin  Wout Þ  va   D  3600
4
where va is the humid air flow rate (m/s). D is defined as the
effective diameter of the air channel, which can be calculated
through subtracting the size of the fan frame from the diameter of
the air channel and the value for D is calculated to 220 mm.
Under steady-state, the effect of feed water mass flow rate,
humid air flow rate and heating temperature on the unit produc-
tivity were studied. In this experiment, the desired parameters
were measured at 10 min interval, and the setting temperatures in
the constant temperature water tank were selected as 60  C, 65  C,
70  C, 75  C, 80  C, 85  C and 90  C.
It can be also seen that the theoretical results are good agreed with
experimental results. This may be explained by Fig. 6, the tem-
perature of the humid air leaving the higher temperature humidi-
fier and the lower temperature humidifier increases as the heating
temperature increased, and the temperature difference of the air
between the inlet and the outlet of the dehumidifier becomes
larger, along with the increase of relative humidity of the air, which
leads to more production.
Increasing the feed seawater mass flow rate causes a decrease
of the temperature of the water leaving the condensers in the
higher temperature dehumidifier. The heat transfer between
condenser and humid air is strengthened, for the fact that the
temperature difference between the feed seawater and humid air
in the dehumidifier becomes larger, and then induces a more yield
of the unit.
Fig. 7 shows the effect of the humid air flow rate on the unit
productivity. It can be observed in this figure that the yield at the
(1)
humid air flow rate of 3.9 m/s is more than that at the humid air
flow rate of 3.7 m/s. It reveals that the productivity of the unit will
increase with increasing the humid air flow rate, because air would
carry more water vapour to the dehumidifier than before.
This behaviour can also be explained by Fig. 8, which shows
(2) the approximately saturated air at the outlet of the humidifier
increases. Since the temperature of the humid air at the flow rate
of 3.9 m/s is higher than that at the flow rate of 3.7 m/s, the
moisture content of the former leaving the humidifier is more. As
a result, an increased amount of fresh water can be obtained from
the unit.
3.3. Performance of steady-state experiment
Solar desalination system performance basically depends on the
solar radiation and operation conditions. The performance or en-
ergy efficiency of humidificationedehumidification desalination
system is defined as the gain output ratio (GOR). A larger value of

70 Mw=720kg/h(experiment)
65 Mw=818kg/h(experiment) 60
Mw=926kg/h(experiment) Va=3.9m/s
60 55 Mw=818kg/h
Mw=720kg/h(calculation)
55 Mw=818kg/h(calculation) 50
Yield / kg/h

Vapor temperature /

50 Mw=926kg/h(calculation) 45
45 40
T3
40 35 T4
35 30 T5

30 Va=3.9m/s T6
25
25 20
60 65 70 75 80 85 90 60 65 70 75 80 85
Heating temperature/ Heating temperature
Fig. 5. Variation of the yield with heating temperature in the unit at different water Fig. 6. Variation of the inlet and outlet humid air temperature with heating
mass flow rates. temperature.
258 Z. Chang et al. / Renewable Energy 69 (2014) 253e259

55 Table 2
The fresh water yield and the GOR of the equipments under steady state.
Va=3.9m/s
50 Va=3.7m/s Heating Mw ¼ 700 kg/h Mw ¼ 800 kg/h Mw ¼ 900 kg/h
temperature/ C
Yield/kg GOR Yield/kg GOR Yield/kg GOR

60 25.5 1.8 26.9 2.1 29.6 1.9

45
65 26.9 1.8 31.3 2.0 34.0 1.9
Yield / kg/h

70 29.4 1.8 34.6 2.0 38.9 1.9

40 75 32.3 1.9 39.3 2.0 42.2 1.8
80 38.8 2.0 44.9 2.0 49.8 1.9
85 43.6 1.9 50.2 1.9 54.6 2.0
35 90 48.7 2.0 53.9 1.9 58.1 1.9

30
25
60 65 70 75
Heating temperature /
Fig. 7. Effect of air mass flow rate on the system productivity.
GOR in a desalination system means higher energy efficiency and
better distillate production performance. Based on the relationship
of the input and output energy, the steady-state GOR is given as
follows:
Me hfg
GOR ¼
Qin
where Me is the fresh water production, hfg is the heat of vapor-
ization at the ambient condition, and Qin is the input energy. In this
study, the heat loss of the heaters in the water tank is ignored and
the latent heat is calculated at the average partial pressure of water
vapour. The total yield and the GOR under steady-state are listed in
Table 2.
It can be seen from Table 2 that the heating temperature and the
feed seawater mass flow rate have a significant influence on the
unit productivity. This finding can be explained as follows: the in-
crease of heating temperature increases the temperature of water
spraying to the porous plastic balls and, therefore, moisture content
of the humid air leaving the higher temperature humidifier and the
lower temperature humidifier. Consequently, the amount of fresh
water obtained from the system is increased. And increasing the
feed seawater mass flow rate enlarges the heat transfer
temperature difference of the heat exchanger, that is, the effect of
condensation heat transfer is strengthened. Increasing the feed
seawater mass flow rate also causes a reduction in the moisture
80 85 90
content of the air leaving the dehumidifier. In the experiment, the
GOR of the unit can reach to a value between 1.8 and 2.1, indicating
the latent heat of condensation of water vapour can be successfully
utilized in the unit. Actually, the GOR of the unit should increase
with the increase of the heating temperature, since air would carry
more water vapour to dehumidifier. However, the GOR of the unit
does not always increase. In fact, increasing the heating tempera-
ture causes an increase in the heat loss. It can be observed from the
figure that thermal insulation has a significant influence on the
GOR of the unit especially when the operation temperature is above
80  C.
(3) The effect of the feed seawater mass flow rate on the system
productivity and the GOR at the heating temperature of 85  C is
presented in Fig. 9. It shows that the productivity of the unit in-
creases with an increase of the mass flow rate of feed seawater. The
yield of the unit can reach to 63.6 kg/h when the seawater mass
flow rate is 1000 kg/h, while the yield of the unit becomes 41.2 kg/h
when the seawater mass flow rate is 550 kg/h. In contrary, the curve
shows that the feed seawater mass flow rate had only a small effect
on GOR. This indicates that varying the feed seawater flow rate had
a slight influence on re-utilisation of heat of condensation. This can
be interpreted as that the temperature difference between evapo-
ration temperature and condensation temperature has an impor-
tant influence on the production of the unit. Increasing the feed
seawater flow rate causes an enlargement in the temperature dif-
ference between evaporation temperature and condensation tem-
perature, inducing an enhanced efficiency of the yield. However,
the variation range of the GOR totally is small. Increasing the feed
seawater flow rate causes a reduction in the temperature of the

70
2.6
65
65
yield of the unit
2.4
60 GOR
Humid air temperature /

60
55 2.2
Yield / kg/h

50 55
2.0
GOR

T3(Va=3.9m/s)
45
T4(Va=3.9m/s) 50 1.8
40 T3(Va=3.7m/s)
45 1.6
35 T4(Va=3.7m/s)

30 40 1.4
60 65 70 75 80 85 90 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Heating temperature Feed water flow rate/kg/h

Fig. 8. Effect of air mass flow rate on the humid air temperature. Fig. 9. Variation of the yield and the GOR with the feed water flow rate.
 Z. Chang et al. / Renewable Energy 69 (2014) 253e259
humid air and a decrease in the latent heat of vaporization released,
which leads to the declined of the GOR in the unit.
4. Economic analysis
One of the most important factors influencing application of
solar desalination is economics, so, it would be of great interest to
analyse economically the developed solar desalination system. The
better economic return on the investment depends on the pro-
duction cost of the distilled water and its applicability. Generally,
the main costs of a desalination unit include the construction cost,
operating and maintenance cost and water production cost. How-
ever, we intended to conduct the economic analysis to determine
both the water production cost and the payback period of the
experimental set-up. Table 3 lists capital cost of each component
constituting the experimental set-up.
The payback period of the experimental set-up depends on
overall cost of construction, operating cost and maintenance cost.
The total capital cost of the desalination unit is $ 11,440, which was
obtained by summing up the investment costs of all the compo-
nents. It may be assumed that the life time of the system is 20 years,
the production period is 300 days per year, the maintenance cost is
about $ 80 per year and the average production is about 500 L per
day (150 ton/year). Based on these assumptions, the fresh water
production during the life time would be 3000 tons. Therefore, the
water price of this system would be about 4.4 $/ton. At present, the
city pure water price for drinking is 32.7 $/ton. Thus, the payback
period of the unit is about 3 years. When this system is applied
commercially in a large scale, the cost of fresh water production
would be decreased further.
Cost of water per ton ¼ (total capital cost of the desalination
unit þ maintenance cost  20)/the number of ton that would be
produced ¼ 13,040/3000 ¼ 4.4 $/ton.
Payback period ¼ Investment/total city pure water
price ¼ 13,040/4909.5 ¼ 2.7 years.
5. Conclusions
A novel multi-effect solar desalination system based on hu-
midificationedehumidification process has been presented and
its working principle has been described. An experiment study
has been performed to investigate the influence of the operating
conditions on the performance of this desalination system. The
experimental results indicate that this unit has a good produc-
tivity performance due to re-utilisation of the latent heat of
condensation of vapour between the two desalination loops. Use
of the heat exchangers with corrugated fins in the dehumidifiers
and also porous plastic balls humidifiers has enhanced the
condensation and evaporation process by increasing the contact
surface area.
The transient-state experiment shows that the 5-min yield can
increase quickly at the beginning of the experiment and reaches
relatively steady state later. In the steady-state experiment, the feed
Table 3
Investment cost of each component constituting the experimental setup.
Component name Quantity Unitary
cost ($)
Water solar collector 40 m2 130
Humidificationedehumidification 1 5603
unit
Plate heat exchanger 1 327
Pump 3 50
Others auxiliary equipment e 160
259
seawater flow rate, the humid air flow rate and heating tempera-
ture have shown a great effect on the productivity of the unit. A
significant improvement on the productivity of the unit can be
achieved by properly increasing these parameters. The GOR of the
unit can reach about 2.1, while the yield is 54.2% at the flow rate of
feed seawater of 1000 kg/h, more than that at the flow rate of feed
water of 550 kg/h. The economic analysis results show that the
water production cost by this prototype desalination unit is about
4.4 $/ton. This multi-effect solar humidificationedehumidification
desalination system could be potentially improved through opti-
misation of its design and operation.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support for this research
provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
51076016, No. U1261119) and the Natural Science Foundation of
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (No. 2013MS074) Projects.
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