Modeling of Solar Desalination Equipped with Phase Change Materials by Air Humidification and Dehumidification Technique

The air humidification-dehumidification method is a good option for decentralized freshwater production because of no need for high temperature operation. The main disadvantage of these systems is their dependence on direct sunlight. to solve this problem, using the sun's thermal energy storage during the day and using this energy during the night can be a very good option that can be achieved using phase change materials. In the present work, it is also possible to continue the desalination process after sunset, by equipping the solar collector with phase change material from two different types of paraffin wax. MATLAB software has been used to solve the equations governing the components of the desalination system. According to the results, the temperature of the output water from the solar collector plays a significant role in the amount of fresh water produced. The results also confirm that the use of phase change material leads to more than 9% increase in fresh water production. Another important result is that in the phase change materials the melting process speed is substantially higher than the freezing process speed.