Evaporative cooling and sensible heat recovery enable practical waste-heat driven water purification
- Publisher:
- ELSEVIER
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Desalination, 2024, 586
- Issue Date:
- 2024-10-01
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| Filename | Description | Size | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| s40515-024-00428-0.pdf | Published version | 3.88 MB |
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Waste heat capture from systems such as photovoltaics (PV) and refrigerators can lower their energy efficiency by increasing their operating temperature. In this study, we evaluate the potential of final-effect evaporative cooling and internal heat recovery in a multi-effect diffusion distillation (MEDD) to produce pure water without negatively impacting the energy efficiency of the waste-heat source. Lab-scale experimental results from a multi-effect membrane distillation module validate the concept, showing that water production can be enhanced by >20 % while simultaneously pulling down the module's operating temperature. A detailed numerical model of a solar-MEDD is implemented and validated. The incorporation of sensible heat recovery and evaporative cooling increase pure water production by approximately 10 % each. Although the pure water production of a standalone MEDD increases with increasing effects N, when coupled to a solar PV module, increasing N also decreases PV electricity production. Therefore, a PV-MEDD with fewer effects (≤4) is preferable and such a system can produce sufficient water for electrolysis (green H2 production) while maintaining or improving PV electrical energy production throughout the year under varying climatic conditions.
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