Sharif Digital Repository

Low-temperature geothermal heat sources have the highest share of geothermal energy in the world. Utilization of these heat sources for energy and freshwater generation can play an important role in meeting energy and freshwater demands. To do so, this study aims to propose a novel trigeneration cycle powered by low-temperature geothermal sources. The proposed system, which is an integration of Kalina and humidification-dehumidification (HDH) cycles, is used for the generation of electricity, heating, and freshwater. For the Kalina cycle, an evaporative condenser is used. It also acts as a humidifier and heater of the humidification-dehumidification desalination cycle, resulting in a... 

The application of the solar energy in thermal desalination devices is one of the most beneficial applications of the renewable energies. In this study, a novel solar desalination system is introduced, which is benefited from the undeniable advantages of pulsating heat pipe (PHP) as a fast responding, flexible and high performance thermal conducting device. Results show a remarkable increase in the rate of desalinated water production and the maximum production reaches up to 875mL/(m2.h). However, the optimum water depth in basin and the filling ratio of the PHP are measured 1cm and 40%, respectively  

Water and energy supply are two of the key issues human beings must address to attain sustainable development. Humidification-dehumidification technology has been proven to be a cost-effective approach to fulfill the freshwater demand. Particular attention has been given to coupling the humidification-dehumidification cycles with refrigeration, power and other desalination technologies with the aim of enhancing the performance of the combined cycle as well as increasing the amount of produced freshwater, cooling effect, power, etc. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art investigations in terms of humidification-dehumidification technologies and their integration... 

A desalination system consumes energy for production of freshwater. Since the solar energy is a low-cost, environmentally clean, and available energy throughout the world, it could be the best source of energy for such systems. In this work, a modified desalination system is presented which uses advantages of thermosyphon heat pipes as a fast and high performance thermal conducting device, and at the same time, employs the advantages of evacuated tube collectors (ETCs) which are flexible and have high performance in adverse weather conditions. Results show considerable increase in the production rate of desalinated water and system efficiency with a maximum production rate of 1.02 kg/(m2 h)... 

Most part of Iran is dominated by arid and semi-arid areas due to low annual rainfall. The need for production of fresh water from brackish water is considerably high, especially in dry regions. In this study 1 month daily-based experimental data from a solar still site has been reported. The technical and operational problems of this site which finally contributed to the total cease of the site are described. Then a detailed analysis is investigated on progress of a prototype which constructed in order to solve the site's problems. The results of 1 month of experimental data of the final design showed that the last prototype could be used to solve the current problems of the site. The... 

An experimental based ANN model is constructed to describe the performance of vacuum membrane distillation process for desalination in different operating conditions. The vacuum pressure, feed inlet temperature, concentration of the feed salt aqueous solution, and feed flow rate are the input variables of this process, while response is the permeate flux. The neural network approach is capable for modeling this membrane distillation configuration. The application of Genetic Algorithm to optimize the ANN model parameters was also examined. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the CHISA 2012 - 20th International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering and PRES 2012 - 15th... 

An experimental based ANN model is constructed to describe the performance of vacuum membrane distillation process for desalination in different operating conditions. The vacuum pressure, the feed inlet temperature, the concentration of the feed salt aqueous solution and the feed flow rate are the input variables of this process, whereas the response is the permeate flux. The neural network approach was found to be capable for modeling this membrane distillation configuration. The application of Genetic Algorithm (GA) to optimize the ANN model parameters was also investigated  

The continuous spread of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as combined heating and power (CHP), diesel generators, boilers and renewable energy sources provide an effective solution to energy related problems to serve the power and heat demands with minimum cost. Moreover, the DERs may play a significant role for supplying power and heat in rural areas, where grid electricity is not available. Also, some dry areas may face water scarcity and salinity problems. So, one important solution is the use of DERs to drive desalination units in order to solve water scarcity and salinity problems. In this study, the optimal scheduling of DERs and reverse osmosis (RO) desalination unit that feed... 

The demand for freshwater has enormously risen the water stress in various parts of the globe. Accessibility of clean water is crucial for sustainable development involving socioeconomic and environmental promotion. Considering the fact that 96.5% of all Earth’s water is related to seawater, desalination (producing clean potable water from sea or saline water) can be considered as a leading solution to fulfill water scarcity problem. Among various advanced and conventional techniques, carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane has become an attractive alternate for most of water treatment methods owing supreme features such as easy operationality, low energy and expense requirement, high water... 

This work represents the efficiency of a solar desalination pond as a second stage of proposed zero discharge desalination processes to reach fresh water and also concentrated brine from the effluent wastewater of the desalination unit of Mobin petrochemical complex. So a solar desalination pond is constructed after a pretreatment unit to concentrate the softened wastewater to about 20wt%. The concentrated wastewater is as a suited feed for a forced circulation crystallizer. During one year, the effects of major parameters such as ambient temperature and solar insolation rate are investigated, experimentally. specific gravity in each layer of concentrated brine wastewater is evaluated. Also,... 

Over the past decades, drastic growth in the installed capacity of seawater desalination systems has increased the energy consumption and brine discharge to the environment. However, using renewable energies and zero liquid discharge systems for minimizing these challenges is limited due to the higher fresh water cost of the systems rather than that of the conventional systems. In this research, a bubble-column humidification-dehumidification zero liquid discharge system is coupled with a multiple-effect distillation/vapor compression system in a novel way to overcome the high water cost of conventional zero liquid discharge systems. Further, the base system and the solar-powered system is... 

Solar energy is turning to one of the important types of clean energies, due to its availability, and its potential for wide range of applications. In this work, a new passive solar desalination system is introduced, which benefits from excellences of twin-glass evacuated tube collectors. For the first time, the evacuated tube collector is not only used as the solar thermal collector, but also as a basin to heat the water. Hence, the thermal resistance between the collector and basin is virtually eliminated. Results show a considerable increase in the rate of desalinated water production and the maximum production reaches up to 0.83 kg/(m2·h). It was observed that the maximum rate of the... 

The substitution of conventional mathematical models with fast and accurate modeling tools can result in the further development of desalination technologies and tackling the need for freshwater. Due to the great capability of data-driven methods in analyzing complex systems, several attempts have been made to study various desalination systems using data-driven approaches. In this state-of-the-art review, the application of various artificial intelligence and design of experiment data-driven methods for analyzing different desalination technologies have been thoroughly investigated. According to the applications of data-driven methods in the field of desalination, the reviewed... 

In this study, a hydrophilic metal-organic framework (MOF) was applied to improve the performance of a cellulosic membrane for forward osmosis (FO) desalination application. The characterization results confirmed that the MOF particles existed within the matrix of the modified membrane. The MOF loading led to adjustment of the membranes in terms of overall porosity, pore inter-connectivity and hydrophilicity. These features caused an improvement in the pure water permeability (72%) and reduce the structural parameter of the modified membrane to 136 μm. The FO water flux of the modified membrane enhanced by about 180% compared to an unmodified membrane, without decreasing its selectivity. FO... 

Today, energy and fresh water play a vital role in human life and the development of economics and also in industry. The energy density in water desalination process is remarkable, so using the renewable energy sources for this purpose can be interesting especially in the high potential renewable energy sources (solar energy) like Middle East. The simulation and feasibility study of solar water desalination system coupled with lithium battery energy storage is considered in the case study of Iran. For these purposes, a complete simulation of the considered system is done. Then, using simulation results, the economic study is carried out using tem economic method. Also, the parametric study...