Status of Humidification Dehumidification

Desalination
Prakash Narayan Govindan
For Lienhard Research Group
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
email: gpn@mit.edu

INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Layout of presentation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The problem
Matrix for ideal solution
HDH system
Features of HDH system
Innovations in HDH system
For reducing energy consumption
HDH for larger scale water production
For reducing dehumidifier size/cost

6. Potential niche for various HDH

technologies

Banswara district, Rajasthan, India.

http://photos.merinews.com/

INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

The problem

World water scarcity map

Source: UNEP

Ref: CK Prahlad & Al Hammond, HBR

Global water scarcity a major portion of it is in low-income countries;

There is a large market opportunity in water purification and desalination in these countries;
The poor currently pay a very blotted price for safe water;

INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Scalability (can it be taken to a million people?)

Matrix for ideal solution

Community level water
supply
Transport Bottled water: high
specific cost

Standalone Reverse Osmosis

resource intensive

Water cone specific cost very

high

Lifesaver only for certain

types of water purification

Implement-ability (related to cost and resource)

PuR not scalable

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

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HDH system
Carrier gas
(humidified)

Th

Packed bed
Solar Heater

Humidifier

Dehumidifier
Carrier gas

Brine, b

Pure water, pw

Sea water
in, w,i ,To

INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Performance benchmark
Gained
Gained-output-ratio

4.5

4
3

2GOR is the thermal efficiency of the system.

1Used for MSF and MED.
0
Al-Hallaj et Ben Bacha et
al. 1998.
al., 2003.

Farid et
al., 1996

Nawayseh et Muller-Holst
al., 1999
et al., 2007

Narayan G.P. et al., 2010. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2009.11.014

Klausner &
Mei., 2005

INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Features of the HDH system

Demerits:
1. Low water vapor content in carrier gas
2. Extra thermal resistance to heat transfer (esp. in dehumidifier)
3. Low energy recovery compared to MSF/MED

GOR existing systems = 0.2 to 4.5

GORMSF= 8 to 12*

GORMED=12 to 16*
Merit:
1. Simple and low-cost construction
2. Low maintenance requirements

* Awerbuch L., Seminar at MIT, Feb, 2009.

INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

SECTION 2

INNOVATIONS IN HDH TO
REDUCE ENERGY
CONSUMPTION
1.
2.
3.
4.

Multi stage air heated HDH

Mechanical compression HDH
Thermally balanced HDH
HDH with a common heat transfer wall
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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Multi stage air heated cycle

Psychrometeric chart

Schematic of the experimental setup

1. Invented by Chafik1
2. Vapor content at the exit of the humidifier is increased to 9.5% in 4 stages
(corresponds to saturated air at 51.5C)
3. The increase in humidity/ water production comes with an increase in energy input
in the heaters and hence, the energy consumption of these cycles is not reduced
greatly.
1

Chafik. E., 2003. A new type of seawater desalination plants using solar energy. Desalination
156, 333-348.

INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Pressure as a parameter in HDH

Humidity ratio:
P=100 kPa
P=70 kPa

P=50 kPa

P is total pressure;
PW is partial pressure
of water vapor;
is relative humidity;

as P

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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Pressure as a parameter in HDH

Narayan, G.P., Sharqawy, M.H., Lienhard V, J.H. and Zubair, S.M. , 2009.
Water separation under varied pressure. US Patent application, USSN 12/573,221.

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DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

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Mechanical compression driven HDH

in
PD

PH

Seawater
Pure water

Carrier gas

Compressor

Humidifier

Dehumidifier

Expander

PH+PH
da

PD-PD

out
Brine

Tsw,in
pw

sw,in

Proceedings
of AJTEC 2011; ASME/JSME 8th Thermal Engineering Joint conference:

Hawaii. 2011

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DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Mechanical compression driven HDH

Technologies

Thermal
energy
consumed
(kJ/kg)

Electrical energy
consumed
(kJ/kg)

Overall
equivalent
GOR

Water heated HDH

950

5-18

Mechanical compression HDH

<160

>6

PP = 40%

Higher equivalent GOR than traditional HDH systems

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DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

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Thermally balanced HDH

heater

HDH cycle performance can be

improved upon by thermally
balancing the system for minimum
entropy generation

By vary the mass flow rate ratio, the

temperature and humidity profiles are
adjusted for minimum entropy
generation

Natural* and forced convection

based systems have both been studied
for balancing by researchers
elsewhere previously. GOR of upto
4.5 was reported.

*Mller-Holst

, PhD Dissertation, Technical

University Munich, 2002.
Thomas Brendel, German Patent, DE 10215079A1

seawater

air

Pure water

INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Minimum entropy generation in

a humidifier/dehumidifier
Tw,i =20 C; Ta,i =70 C; i=o=1; =80%

Water stream
Tw,o
w,o

Ta,i ,i
da

Dehumidifier

Tpw, pw
Condensed water
stream

Tw,i
w,i

Ta,o ,o
da
Humid air stream

Narayan, G.P. et al., 2010. IJTS, 49(10), Pages 2057-2066.

Narayan, G.P. et al., 2010. FHMT, 1 - 023001.
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HDH with common heat transfer

wall
Process
Moist air enters the dehumidifier and condenses along
the common wall, releasing heat to the evaporator
through the wall
Advantages
Common wall enhances heat recovery between the
two sides of the system, giving high theoretical GOR
of 9.5
Experimental systems constructed from cheap
materials.
Disadvantages
Poor flow distribution along both sides of the wall
resulted in a lower experimental GOR of 4.5

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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Section Summary
Mechanical compression driven HDH has potential because the capital and
maintenance cost of the system itself is expected to be very low. It also
gives the option of dual heat or electric operation
Niche: Diesel generator and biomass driven decentralized system
Currently, two companies from Germany (Magewater Management GmbH
and Terra Water GmbH) are trying to commercialize (single pressure) HDH
systems with thermodynamic balancing.
Niche: Small scale, renewable energy based, decentralized system
The HDH systems with a common heat transfer wall is a commercial
product which is patented and produced by two companies - Altela Inc
in the US and Three Millenium Water Technologies in France.
Niche: Small scale, renewable energy based, decentralized system
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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

HDH FOR LARGER SCALE SYSTEMS

HDH hybridized with RO

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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

HDH system hybridized with RO

Narayan G.P., 2011. Submitted for publication to Energy

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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Performance of HDH-RO
At reasonable efficiency, most
water is produced in the RO
section

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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

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DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

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Ejector Research
20%

Define Performance
Metrics
Efficiency

15%

Understand
Fundamentals
Investigate Novel
Designs

10%
Turbine-Compressor
Exergetic
Entrainment

5%

0%
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

Entrained to Motive Mass Ratio

Data from Eames, 1995. Internat. Journal of Refrig.

0.8

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DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

INNOVATIONS TO REDUCE
DEHUMIDIFIER SIZE
1. Helium as carrier gas
2. HDH with direct contact dehumidifier

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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

HDH with Helium as the carrier gas

Tw,i =30 C; Tht,i =90 C; H=60%; D=90%

1.

The thermodynamic performance (GOR) of the water heated HDH system is not affected by
changing the carrier gas.

2.

However, the reduction of pressure drop will reduce the auxiliary electricity consumption by 5 to 8
times and increase in dehumidifier heat transfer coefficient by 5 to 6 will reduce dehumidifier size
greatly.

Narayan G.P., Paper accepted for presentation at ASME IMECE 2011, Denver

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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

HDH with direct contact

dehumidifier*

The heat transfer coefficients are higher for the direct contact
dehumidifier than for the other HDH systems. Hence, the heat
exchanger size and cost are relatively low.

Because the heat from the humidified air is not recovered directly to
preheat seawater, the system heat recovery is low and the energy
consumption is high.

*James Klausner., University of Florida

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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Overall Conclusions
Simple HDH technology with a GOR of 2 and low CAPEX and
maintenance requirements is appropriate for community level
water purification and can play a role in solving the global
water problem
New embodiments of HDH are under development and can
potentially improve upon on the simple HDH technology
Further research (not mentioned in this paper) is under
progress at MIT & other institutions to make HDH a low cost
desalination system

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INTERNATIONAL DESALINATION ASSOCIATION

DESALINATION: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR A THIRSTY PLANET SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2011

Thanks
Prakash: gpn@mit.edu
Professor Lienhard: lienhard@mit.edu
Ronan McGovern: mcgov@mit.edu
Syed Zubair: smzubair@kfupm.edu.sa

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