A novel portable desalination system configured by a honeycomb-pad humidifier and thermoelectric dehumidifier; Experimental study

Humidification/dehumidification process (HDH) is a potential water desalination mechanism in which the air fluid is humidified by the saline water and then is dehumidified through a dehumidification process results in clean -water condensation. In this research attempts are made to experimentally identify the transient and steadystate thermo-economic characteristics of a novel HDH device (configured by a honeycomb -pad humidifier and a commercial powerful thermoelectric cooler as the dehumidifier) for various ambient air conditions. The clean water is condensed due to the contact between humid air and cold side of thermoelectric module. As a cooling mechanism is required for the hot side of any thermoelectric module, the same saline water loop first flows on the hot side of thermoelectric to cool it down then goes towards honeycomb humidifier (see the graphical abstract). Interestingly, this also increases the quality of the evaporation process in the honeycomb humidifier due to warmer water temperature. Air/water temperature in different positions, heatsink temperature, amount of condensed water, COP and economic factors are investigated, analyzed, and reported for both transient and steady-state conditions in this study. With an input total power of 180 W into two series -thermoelectric modules, the system can provide 22-37 g/h fresh water which costs 0.14-0.24 $ depending on ambient air conditions.