Experimental study of a coupled unit for space cooling and water desalination

Abstract

The waste heat recovery from condenser of air conditioning for seawater desalination is attractive because of its great energy and environmental value. This paper experimentally investigated a modified air conditioner with a desalination unit that operates in the space-cooling and seawater distillation. The experimental investigation was used to study the performance of the system for water distillation, the flow rate of the potable water and the amount of energy saving during the desalination process. The results confirmed that the temperature in the tank is equal to 72°C. With continuously used air conditioning, this value may become better. In these conditions, the maximum coefficient of performance (COP) of the air conditioning was around 6.11. In the integrated system, the potable water production rate was 730 ml/h. The proposed system provides the possibility to save energy which would lead to low cost of fresh water. Indeed, the GHG emissions were reduced.