Performance assessment of a cross-flow packed-bed humidification- dehumidification (HDH) desalination system - the effect of mass extraction

This paper presents an experimental investigation of a cross-flow packed-bed humidification- dehumidification (HDH) desalination system. The influence of mass flow ratio (MR), feed temperature, and cold water flow rate on the system performance indicators such as system productivity, gain output ratio (GOR), recovery ratio (RR), and components (humidifier and dehumidifier) effectiveness values is investigated and discussed. The study equally examines the impact of stream extractions and injections on the performance of HDH system through mass balancing, which minimizes the entropy generation in the system. The results show that the system is capable of producing distillate water of about 144 L/d and can reach a GOR of 2.7, and RR of 1.33%. Furthermore, the obtained results suggest that it is possible to improve the cycle performance through mass balancing, as we recorded an improvement of about 68%, 4%, 17%, 12%, and 2% for GOR, productivity, RR, humidifier effectiveness and dehumidifi