Energy and Exergy Analyses of Fresh Water and Air Conditioning Production

For a combined generation of fresh water and air conditioning, the humidification-dehumidification and vapor compression refrigeration (HDH-VCR) cycle is the best option as it works at ambient pressure without handling any chemicals. The HDH cycle works on the principle of an artificially created water cycle. Air can be humidified either with heating and humidification or with the cooling and humidification process. The heating and humidification are well analyzed and the results are reported in the open literature. This work is focused on cooling and humidification for freshwater generation and air conditioning. In the current thermodynamic simulation, the identified key process conditions are evaporator temperature and ambient air conditions (temperature and relative humidity. The focused results are specific desalination, specific cooling, energy performance ratio (EPR), and exergy efficiency. The resulted EPR for cycle and plant are 1.34 and 0.62 respectively at the evaporator temperature of -2 °C.