An Experimental Study of Brackish Water Flow Rate Influence on the Efficiency of a Solar Thermal-Driven HDH Desalination Setup for Remote Areas

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Pouya Esfanjani 1
Ali Mahmoudi 1
Meraj Rahbari 1
Saman Rashidi 2
Mohammad Sadegh Valipour 1 , 3
Wei-Mon Yan 4
1 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran
2 Department of Energy, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran
3 Center for International Scientific Studies and Collaborations (CISSC) of Iran, Iran
4 Department of Energy and Refrigerating Air-Conditioning Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, Taiwan
10.22055/jacm.2025.48385.5198
Abstract
Solar thermal-powered desalination techniques of humidification-dehumidification, as their promising potential for brackish water treatment in remote areas, have been extensively studied by researchers. However, these systems have several issues and challenges that should be considered. The impact of the brackish water’s flow intensity on the efficiency of the humidification-dehumidification desalination systems is the aim of this research through an experimental approach. Different inlet flow rates of the saline water in the 0.60 to 1.20 l/min domain were selected and tested. The results showed that the gain output ratio was improved by 46.67% by increasing the inlet flow rate. Maximum freshwater production of 3.99 l/day, gain output ratio of 0.22, specific energy consumption of 4.1, overall efficiency of 8.17%, exergy efficiency of 8.93%, and carbon dioxide reduction of 0.65 tons were the best results of the investigated desalination system. 
Keywords
Solar desalination
Humidification-dehumidification
Solar collectors&rsquo
applications
Parabolic dish collector
Thermal performance
Subjects

Publisher’s Note Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics
Volume 12, Issue 2
Spring 2026
Pages 358-367