Experimental investigation of an adsorption desalination plant using low-temperature waste heat

Abstract

Adsorption cycle is a practical and inexpensive method of desalinating the saline and brackish water to produce potable water for both industrial and residential applications. As compared with the commercial desalination methods, the adsorption technology has the unique advantages such as (i) the utilization of the low-temperature waste heat, (ii) low corrosion and fouling rates on the tube materials due to the low-temperature evaporation of saline water, (iii) and it has almost no major moving parts which renders inherently low maintenance cost. In addition, the adsorption cycle offers two important benefits that are not available to the existing desalination technologies; namely, (i) a two-prong phenomenal barrier to any "bio-contamination" during the water generation process as compared with existing methods and (ii) the reduction in global warming due to the utilization of low-temperature waste heat which otherwise would have been purged to the atmosphere. This paper describes an experimental investigation and the specific water yields from a four-bed adsorption desalination plant is presented with respect to major assorted coolant and feed conditions. © 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.