Study on Active and Passive Integration Humidification–Dehumidification Solar Desalination

Abstract

A humidification–dehumidification (HDH) solar desalination process with active and passive air circulation is proposed, in which the phase change material (PCM) is used to recover the latent heat of vapor condensation to increase the fresh water production. The experiments show that the cost of fresh water is 23.47 Yuan/t, the gain output ratio of the unit is 13.37, and the water production is increased by 84.4% compared with the dehumidifier without using PCM. The heat transfer between the heat pipe and the PCM (I) (paraffin) and the high thermal conductivity PCM (II) are tested and simulated.