Parametric analysis on the performance of a hybrid absorption desalination-cooling system

Abstract

The demand for new technologies due to the global energy shortage, water scarcity, and environmental issues have been a scientific worry and challenge all over the world nowadays. Conventional desalination and cooling systems consume a large amount of energy and harm the environment. In the actual study, performance of a proposed hybrid absorption-desalination cooling system (ABDCS) is investigated theoretically. The main advantage of this system is the ability to utilize effectively low-grade heat source to produce simultaneously both desalinated water and cooling effect. A mathematical MATLAB code is developed and validated to simulate the performance of the system. Results showed that, the maximum system COP is obtained at 85 o C driving heat source temperature. This makes the proposed system suitable for low-grade heat sources and heat recovery process, which can be easily obtained from low grade heat source. At this temperature, the obtained cooling effect is 346 kW, the coefficient of performance (COP) is 0.774, and 13.88 m 3 day -1 desalinated water production. Increasing heat source temperatures and cooling water temperatures increasing the STEC linearly from 754 to 806 kWh/m 3 and from 722 to 812 kWh/m 3 respectively along the range of temperatures tested. On the other, the STEC decreased from 814 to 716 kWh/m 3 with increasing in the chilled water.