A Combined Desalination and Refrigeration System Based on Solar Ejector Technology

Abstract

A solar ejector technology-based system that combines refrigeration and desalination was investigated for the present study. The proposed model combined a conventional ejector refrigeration system with a desalination unit to examine its ability to achieve cooling as well as produce clean water. An analytical model of the ejector was developed using 1D compressible flow equations based on mass, momentum, and energy conservation. The output from the ejector was then fed to a 1D heat exchanger model to compute the clean water production. The analytical model was implemented using the Matlab platform. A 2D axisymmetric numerical simulation of the ejector system was also performed to comprehend the internal flow structures. It has been observed that the entrainment ratio, which is the ratio of the vapor refrigerant's mass flow rate to the motive steam's mass flow rate, falls as the stagnation temperature of the motive steam increases. It was noted that the coefficient of performance (COP) rises as the evaporator temperature rises, but it is seen to decline with the rise in generator temperature. The amount of desalinated water that can be produced with the system was also explored. It was observed that the production of desalinated water increased proportionally with the rise in generator temperature. At a generator temperature of 140°C, the system obtained clean water at a rate of about 2.9 g/s, which corresponds to a 24.5% mass flow rate of the input steam.