Studies of Flow and Heat/Mass Transfer in Water Desalination Tower

Abstract

The paper presents a concept and basic studies about a solar thermal desalination system to achieve the goal of energy efficient, low maintenance, and low-cost water and salts production, leaving no waste discharge and minimum impact on the environment. The system has three major components integrated: a glass-covered solar thermal collection space, a basin with water for evaporation, and a water vapor condensation chimney. Both clean water and salts can be collected to achieve the efficient use of land for solar energy and the maximum value of water and salt products. A preliminary experimental study has demonstrated the concept of the desalination technology with clean water collected at the solar insolation conditions of Tucson, Arizona. Further study for optimization of the coupling of solar collection area and cooling capacity (or cooling heat transfer area) for water vapor condensation will be carried out in the future. This technology is of great significance and value to the water production at arid areas where solar energy is abundant.