Abstract
Drinking water availability is one of the emerging challenges of the twenty-first century. Different technologies are investigated as possible sources of water for the arid regions. Atmospheric water vapor processing is a developing approach whose aim is to cool air to condensate the water present in the atmospheric moisture. Air dehumidification allows obtaining pure drinking water for geographical regions far from sea, rivers, and lakes.
This chapter presents the optimization of a refrigeration system for drinking water production through atmospheric air dehumidification. The system uses a fan to force the air through a heat exchanger, in which it is cooled. The water vapor condensates on the cooled heat exchanger surfaces and it is collected by gravity in a tank.
The system’s aim is to condensate the maximum water quantity achievable for every atmospheric air condition, represented by temperature, humidity, and pressure. Thus, a mathematical model is defined to determine the optimal atmospheric air flow that maximizes the condensed water production for every atmospheric air condition. Furthermore, to consider the atmospheric condition hourly profiles of the refrigeration system installation site, three air flow control strategies are proposed: hourly, monthly, and yearly. An experimental campaign is set up to validate the model. Experimental test results show that it accurately predicts the drinking water production (gap between −5.6 and +4.1 %). Finally, the case study of a refrigeration system installed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is presented to assess and compare the proposed three air flow control strategies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Abbreviations
- AP :
-
Inflow pipe section, m2
- c :
-
Specific heat, J/kg°C
- f :
-
Conversion factor
- F :
-
Bypass factor
- M :
-
Mass, g
- m :
-
Molar mass, g/mol
- n :
-
Moles number, mol
- P :
-
Pressure, mbar
- Q :
-
Heat, W
- \( \dot{q} \) :
-
Condensed water flow, L/h
- R :
-
Universal gas constant, J/K mol
- r :
-
Evaporation latent heat, kJ/kg
- RP :
-
Refrigeration power, W
- S :
-
Air flow speed, m/s
- T :
-
Temperature, °C
- V :
-
Air and water vapor mixture volume
- \( \dot{v} \) :
-
Volumetric air flow, m3/h
- ρ :
-
Density, kg/m3
- ω :
-
Absolute humidity, \( {\mathrm{g}}_{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}/{\mathrm{kg}}_{\mathrm{dry}\ \mathrm{air}} \)
- a:
-
Atmospheric state
- air:
-
Air
- c:
-
Post-evaporator state
- e:
-
Heat exchanger exit state
- H2O:
-
Water
- l:
-
Latent
- s:
-
Sensible
- h :
-
Hour
- i :
-
Month
- *:
-
Best value achievable
- min:
-
Minimum value admitted
- tot:
-
Total value
- y:
-
Year
- Δ:
-
Increment
- 0:
-
Initial value
References
United Nations (2013) The millennium development goals report 2013. United Nations, New York
Anbarasu T, Pavithra S (2011) Vapour compression refrigeration system generating fresh water from humidity in the air. In Proceedings of sustainable energy and intelligent systems (SEISCON 2011), Tamil Nadu, India, 20–22 July 2011
Miller JE (2003) Review of water resources and desalination technologies. Sandia National Laboratories—Unlimited Release, Albuquerque
Shanmugam G, Jawahar GS, Ravindran S (2004) Review on the uses of appropriate techniques for arid environment. In Proceedings of international conference on water resources and arid environment, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 5–8 Dec 2004
Helmreich B, Horn H (2009) Opportunities in rainwater harvesting. Desalination 248:118–124
Ghaffour N, Missimer TM, Amy GL (2013) Technical review and evaluation of the economics of water desalination: current and future challenges for better water supply sustainability. Desalination 309:197–207
Narayan GP, Sharqawy MH, Summers EK, Lienhard JH, Zubair SM, Antar MA (2010) The potential of solar-driven humidification–dehumidification desalination for small-scale decentralized water production. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 14:1187–1201
Wahlgren RV (2001) Atmospheric water vapour processor designs for potable water production: a review. Water Res 35:1–22
Mezher T, Fath H, Abbas Z, Khaled A (2011) Techno-economic assessment and environmental impacts of desalination technologies. Desalination 266:263–273
Gleick PH (2000) A look at twenty-first century water resources development. Water Int 25:127–138
Gleick PH (1996) Water resources. In: Schneider SH (ed) Encyclopedia of climate and weather. Oxford University Press, New York
Gad HE, Hamed AM, El-Sharkawy II (2001) Application of a solar desiccant/collector system for water recovery from atmospheric air. Renew Energy 22:541–556
Ji JG, Wang RZ, Li LX (2007) New composite adsorbent for solar-driven fresh water production from the atmosphere. Desalination 212:176–182
Abualhamayel HI, Gandhidasan P (1997) A method of obtaining fresh water from the humid atmosphere. Desalination 113:51–63
Starr VP (1972) Controlled atmospheric convection in an engineered structure. Nord Hydrol 3:1–21
Milani D, Abbas A, Vassallo A, Chiesa M, Bakri DA (2011) Evaluation of using thermoelectric coolers in a dehumidification system to generate freshwater from ambient air. Chem Eng Sci 66:2491–2501
Scrivani A, Bardi U (2008) A study of the use of solar concentrating plants for the atmospheric water vapour extraction from ambient air in the Middle East and Northern Africa region. Desalination 220:592–599
Carrington CG, Liu Q (1995) Calorimeter measurements of a heat pump dehumidifier: influence of evaporator air flow. Int J Energy Res 19:649–658
Khalil A (1993) Dehumidification of atmospheric air as a potential source of fresh water in the UAE. Desalination 93:587–596
Jradi M, Ghaddar N, Ghali K (2012) Experimental and theoretical study of an integrated thermoelectric–photovoltaic system for air dehumidification and fresh water production. Int J Energy Res 36:963–974
Habeebullah BA (2009) Potential use of evaporator coils for water extraction in hot and humid areas. Desalination 237:330–345
Buck AL (1981) New equations for computing vapor pressure and enhancement factor. J Appl Meteorol 20:1527–1532
WeatherSpark (2014) Average weather for Dubai, United Arab Emirates. https://weatherspark.com/#!dashboard;ws=32855. Accessed 15 March 2014
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
AWVP mathematical model and control strategy parameter values
Parameter | Value | Unit of measure |
|---|---|---|
A | 0.0007 | – |
B | 0.00000346 | – |
c air | 1,005 | J/kg°C |
f | 1,000 | \( {\mathrm{g}}_{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}/{\mathrm{kg}}_{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}} \) |
m air | 28.84 | g/mol |
\( {m}_{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}} \) | 18.016 | g/mol |
R | 8.3144 | J/mol K |
\( {r}_{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}} \) | 2,272 | kJ/kg |
T minc | 5 | °C |
\( \Delta {\dot{v}}_{\mathrm{a}} \) | 1 | m3/h |
\( {\dot{\mathrm{v}}}_{\mathrm{a}}^0 \) | 1 | m3/h |
x | 6.1121 | – |
y | 17.123 | – |
z | 234.95 | – |
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bortolini, M., Gamberi, M., Graziani, A., Pilati, F. (2015). Refrigeration System Optimization for Drinking Water Production Through Atmospheric Air Dehumidification. In: Dincer, I., Colpan, C., Kizilkan, O., Ezan, M. (eds) Progress in Clean Energy, Volume 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16709-1_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16709-1_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16708-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16709-1
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)