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Integration of Membrane Distillation and Solar Thermal Systems for Co- Production of Purified Water and Heat

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Integration of Membrane Distillation and Solar Thermal Systems for Co- Production of Purified Water and Heat Integration of Membrane Distillation and Solar Thermal Systems for Co- production of Purified Water and Heat Uday Kumar N T Doctoral Thesis 2017 KTH School of Industrial Engineering and Management Department of Energy Technology Division of Heat and power technology SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM To my father Nutakki Subba Rao (Late), my beloved mother Indira and my lovely wife Vyplavi. ISBN: 978-91-7729-581-5 TRITA- KRV-17-10 ISSN 1100-7990 ISRN KTH-KRV-17-10-SE © Uday Kumar N T, 2017 Doctoral Thesis / Uday Kumar N T Page I Abstract In the Middle East and North Africa region fresh water resources are very scarce and the existing sources are depleting rapidly. Desalination is the method to fulfill increasing water demand, and people depend mostly upon bottled water for drinking purposes. Bottled water is resource and energy demanding, hence there is a need for supplying drinkable water in a sustainable way. The main objective of this research is to develop solutions for providing potable water to urban communities through integrating membrane distillation water purification units with solar driven hot water installations. A single-cassette Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) unit was tested on laboratory scale to investigate the influence of various operating parameters on the distillate production. Particular attention was given for identifying process conditions relevant to the design of solar energy integrated systems. In parallel, a simplified empirical model using response surface methods was developed and validated against bench scale experimental results. The developed model for performance indicators was later employed in dynamic simulations of a solar thermal integrated membrane distillation system. A pilot plant was designed and installed at RAK Research and Innovation Center in UAE. Experimental investigations were conducted on this integrated system for co-production of pure water (around 15-25 l/day) along with hot water production equivalent to the needs of a family of five. A dynamic simulation model was developed in TRNSYS to analyze optimum operating conditions of the system. Economic analysis showed an impressive payback period and savings for the integrated system as compared with standalone counterparts. A second pilot facility using a larger multi-cassette AGMD module and absorption cooler was designed and installed. Performance of this solar co-production system for heat, cooling, and pure water is analyzed for various integration modes. Keywords: Solar Membrane Distillation; Co-production; Domestic Hot water, Dynamic simulation, TRNSYS, Integrated systems Page II Doctoral Thesis / Uday Kumar N T Sammanfattning Integrering av membrandestillering och solvärmesystem för samproduktion av rent vatten och värme Färskvattenresurser är en bristvara i Mellanöstern och Nordafrika, och för dricksvatten är befolkningen beroende av avsaltat vatten på flaskor. Buteljeringen omfattar stora resurser och är energikrävande, därför behövs nya hållbara lösningar för att tillgodose dricksvattenbehoven. Huvudmålet med projektet är att förse dricksvatten till stadsområden genom integrering av membrandestillering och soltappvärmevatten. I detta arbete har laboratorieskaliga experiment genomförts med en membrandestilleringsenhet för att undersöka påverkan av processbetingelser på destillatframställningen. Särskild vikt lades på identifieringen av relevanta processtillstånd för integrerat solvärmesystem. Samtidigt har en enkel empirisk modell, skapad genom responsytortekniker, implementerats och validerats mot experimentella data. Den validerade modellen har sedan använts i dynamiska simuleringar för ett soldrivet membrandestilleringssystem. En pilotanläggning designades och installerades vid RAK Research and Innovation Center i UAE. Experimentella undersökningar genomfördes med detta kombisystem för samproduktion av rent vatten (cirka 15-25 L/dag) och varmvatten för en familj på fem personer. En dynamisk simulering med mjukvaran TRNSYS har utvecklats för att fastställa systemets optimala driftsparametrar. En ekonomisk analys visar goda återbetalningstider för kombisystemet jämfört med separata system. En andra pilotanläggning som integrerade en större membrandestilleringsenhet och absorptionskylare designades och byggdes. Kombisystemets prestanda för samproduktionen av värme, kyla och rent vatten analyserats för olika integreringsalternativ. Nyckelord: soldriven membrandestillering, samproduktion, tappvärmevatten, dynamisk simulering, TRNSYS, kombisystem Doctoral Thesis / Uday Kumar N T Page III Acknowledgments This industrial PhD work is funded by RAK Research and Innovation Center (Previously CSEM-uae), American University of Ras al khaimah under the patronage of Govt. of Ras Al Khamiah, UAE. I sincerely acknowledge and express my gratitude for their financial and moral support. I am indebted to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Andrew Martin, Department of Energy Technology, KTH, Sweden for his continuous support, guidance and valuable suggestions during my PhD studies. Many thanks for your constant help, encouragement and sympathetic attitude during times of distress. I am grateful for providing an opportunity to work with you and sincerely appreciate your patience and motivation. I would like to take this opportunity to express high emotion of benevolence and deepest gratitude to Dr. Hamid Kayal, (Ex-CEO of CSEM-uae) who encouraged and provided me all necessary facilities throughout the course of this investigation. My sincere appreciations are also extended to Prof. Mousa Mohnsen, American University of Ras Al Khaimah, for his extended support during the preparation of this thesis. I acknowledge the support from SCARAB AB especially Aapo Saask for his support, enthusiasm and willingness to explore new thoughts. I would like to express many thanks to Gowtham Mohan for working with me during experimental investigation and appreciate support in publications. I cannot forget Muhammad Asim and Gaurav P Raval who worked in this project and helped me on several occasions. Deepest appreciations are due to all the team of RAKRIC especially Waqar Ullah Kazim for supporting me at both professional and personal level. I would like to extend my special thanks to my friends, Rajesh Reddy, Manoj K Pokhrel, Zaki Iqbal, Ershad Ulla Khan and Daniel for their moral support and encouragement during the course of study. I don’t have suitable words to acknowledge my family members for their patience and unconditional love especially my wife Dr. Vyplavi and my son Aaron. You are my encouragement and hope, Thank you. Uday Kumar October, 2017 Page IV Doctoral Thesis / Uday Kumar N T Preface This doctoral thesis work has been performed at RAK Research and Innovation Center, UAE in collaboration with the Department of Energy Technology (EGI), School of Industrial Engineering and Management (ITM), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Publications included in the thesis The present thesis is based on a summary of the following publications referred to by Roman numerals I–V. The order of these articles is arranged in connection with the results presented in the thesis. The articles are appended at the end of the thesis. Peer-reviewed Journal Papers I. N. T Uday Kumar and M. Andrew. “Experimental modeling of an air-gap membrane distillation module and simulation of a solar thermal integrated system for water purification”. Desalination and Water Treatment, 84 (2017) 123-124. II. N. T Uday Kumar and M. Andrew. “Co-Production Performance Evaluation of a Novel Solar Combi System for Simultaneous Pure Water and Hot Water Supply in Urban Households of UAE”. Energies, 10 (2017) 481. III. N. T Uday Kumar and M. Andrew. “Techno-economic optimization of solar thermal integrated membrane distillation for co-generation of heat and pure water”. Manuscript under review, Desalination and Water Treatment Journal. IV. N. T Uday Kumar, M. Gowtham and M. Andrew. “Performance analysis of solar cogeneration system with different integration strategies for potable water and domestic hot water production”. Applied Energy, 170 (2016) 466–475. V. M. Gowtham, N. T Uday Kumar, P. K Manoj and M. Andrew. “Experimental investigation of a novel solar thermal polygeneration plant in UAE”. Renewable Energy, 91 (2016) 361-373. Contribution of the thesis author: Paper I, II and III: First author led the overall development of the article; conducted field study including data collection and data analysis. System analysis and parametric studies were also conducted by the first author. First author conducted all experimental work, model development, simulation work and subsequent analyses. The second author acted as mentor and reviewer for the conceptual and methodological work. Doctoral Thesis / Uday Kumar N T Page V Paper IV: First author led the overall development of the article; research idea, technical analysis, and system integration strategies were presented and conducted by the first author. Second author was involved in experimental data collection and supported with economic analysis. Third author acted as the main mentor and reviewer for the work. Paper V: Second author provided the research idea, developed experimental system and led first author in developing integrated system. Second author also involved in experimental data collection and analysis. First author developed article and conducted economic analysis. Third author was involved with experimental system integration. Fourth author acted as the main mentor and reviewer. Other publications related to this research but not
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