Humidification-dehumidification desalination system using a state of art hollow fibre membranes

The increase in global population growth and population density has limited the ability of many nations to sustain fresh water supply. Sea or brackish water desalination provides a sustainable and nonconventional solution for the world’s water scarcity and the rapid increase in fresh water demand. This article investigates humidification-dehumidification water desalination system, using a state of art hollow fibre membranes, which are employed in the humidification chamber of the experimental rig, to humidify and heat the ambient air. The humidified air is then cooled via heat transfer in dehumidification chamber resulting in condensation of the water vapour to produce fresh potable water. A number of experimental tests were carried out using the test rig to investigate its water production capacity. A synthetic seawater water solution was prepared in the lab and used for the tests and its total dissolved solids (TDS) and electrical conductivity were measured before and after the distillation process. The aim of this work is to investigate and evaluate the performance of hollow fibre membranes as a humidification medium for the ambient air and optimise the operational performance of the system, using different mass flow rates of saline water and air. A water quality analysis showed that levels were well within the World Health Organization guidelines for drinking water. Further research is being performed to improve the performance of the installation.