Applied Thermal Engineering 120 (2017) 530536

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

A novel design of a multistage stepped bubble column humidifier for the

humidification of air
Hafiz M. Abd-ur-Rehman a,b, Fahad A. Al-Sulaiman a,c,
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
b
School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (SMME), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), H-12 Campus, Islamabad, Pakistan
c
Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy (CoRERE), Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

h i g h l i g h t s

A novel multi-stage stepped bubble column humidifier is designed and tested.

A higher system performance with a lower pressure drop is achieved.

Absolute humidity is increased by 79% for two-stage bubble column humidifier.

Absolute humidity is increased by 1821% for three-stage bubble column humidifier.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The operating parameters for the optimum performance of a novel multistage stepped bubble column
Received 26 April 2016 humidifier design were experimentally determined. An improved humidification-dehumidification
Revised 6 March 2017 (HDH) desalination system can be obtained by integrating such a humidifier with a dehumidifier. The
Accepted 6 April 2017
relationship between the variation of the pressure drop with varying water column height at different
Available online 7 April 2017
superficial velocities of air was evaluated. A water column height of 1 cm and superficial velocity of air
of 25 cm/s provide the best humidifier performance at the lowest pressure drop. The performance of
Keywords:
single-stage, two-stage, and three-stage bubble column humidifiers was evaluated in terms of the abso-
Water desalination
Air humidification
lute humidity when the inlet water temperature is varied in the range of 3575 C. The absolute humidity
HDH system increases exponentially with increasing inlet water temperature. The percentage increase in the absolute
Multistage humidifier humidity achieved by the two-stage and three-stage bubble column humidifiers are, respectively 79%
Bubble column and 1821% higher than that achieved by the single-stage bubble column humidifier.
Electrical heating 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction adopt seawater desalination technologies to supply potable water

Demand for potable water is estimated to reach 6900 billion m3
per year by 2030 mainly due to the rapid increase in the world
population [1]. The existing fresh water supply of 4200 billion
m3 per year is well below the projected potable water demand
[1]. The problem is more severe in the developing countries where
the unavailability of clean water is the root cause of 8090% of
waterborne diseases that are responsible for 30% of deaths [2].
Moreover, these numbers are likely to increase by four times over
the next 25 years [3]. Considering the existing and approaching
fresh water crisis, it is inevitable that most of the countries will
Corresponding author at: Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd
University of Petroleum & Minerals, (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
E-mail address: fahadas@kfupm.edu.sa (F.A. Al-Sulaiman).
[4].
Seawater desalination is a mature field which is already
adopted by many countries to obtain potable water. The conven-
tional water desalination technologies are: reverse osmosis (RO),
multi-stage flash (MSF), and multiple-effect distillation (MED).
These technologies are highly energy intensive and economically
viable only on a large scale [5]. However, there is a high demand
for small-scale desalination systems for the decentralized supply
of fresh water to remote areas. Thus, it is highly desirable to
develop a water desalination system that features a stand-alone/
off-grid functionality to produce potable water in electricity-
scarce remote areas [6].
Humidification-dehumidification (HDH) is a carrier-gas-based
thermal technique [7] that is ideally suited to be used as a decen-
tralized small-scale water desalination system [8]. This technology
has several advantages including its simple functionality, ability to

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.04.021
1359-4311/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 H.M. Abd-ur-Rehman, F.A. Al-Sulaiman / Applied Thermal Engineering 120 (2017) 530536
utilize waste heat resources and low grade energy, low cost of the
required construction materials, and moderate investment [9]. The
challenge is to come up with an efficient, reliable, and cost effective
design to harness the true potential of the HDH water desalination
system. Several studies that explore HDH as an effective means of
brackish water desalination are available. The early designs
[1016] suffered from the lower efficiency of the HDH system
due to their inefficient dehumidification. Therefore, the main focus
of most of the later studies [1721] was to improve the dehumid-
ification process of the HDH system, and comparatively less atten-
tion has been paid towards the improvement of the humidification
process.
Humidification is one of the key processes in the HDH water
desalination system. There are many devices which can be used
for the humidification process. These devices include the spray
tower, wetted-wall tower, packed-bed tower, and the bubble col-
umn [22]. The bubble column is an innovative design of a humidi-
fication device in which air is passed through a perforated plate to
form bubbles in a hot water column. As the air bubbles move
through the hot water column, heat and mass transfer take place
simultaneously. The higher rate of heat and mass transfer in bubble
columns have made them attractive to be used as multiphase reac-
tors in metallurgical, biomedical, and chemical processes such as
the Fischer-Tropsch process [23]. However, the use of bubble col-
umn humidifiers in HDH water desalination systems is very limited.
There are only a very few studies [2428] that have investigated
the bubble column as a humidifier for HDH water desalination.
Moreover, a single-stage design was used in all previously per-
formed experimental investigations of the bubble column humidi-
fier. In the single-stage design, the water and air streams are
homogeneously mixed in the bubble column and a large tempera-
ture difference that increases the irreversibility in the system is
present. Therefore, a novel multistage bubble column humidifier
shown in Fig. 1 is proposed and implemented in this study. In
the multistage configuration, the water and air stream paths are
segmented to provide a lower temperature difference in each
stage. Consequently, a lower irreversibility is present in the sys-
tem. Other advantages of this design are its stepped configuration
that allows the water stream to maintain a minimum desirable
water column height and the water flowing through the stages
under the force of gravity. A minimum water depth in the bubble
columns results in a lower air side pressure.
The multistage stepped configuration also helps in attaining a
higher absolute humidity by both heating and humidifying the
air throughout its full path inside the humidifier. Fig. 2 depicts
the air humidification process in the humidifier operated in the
single-stage, two-stage, and three-stage configurations. The air
Fig. 1. (a) Proposed design of the multistage bubble column humidifier, and (b) Segmented water and air streams along the steps of the multistage humidifier design.
531
humidification process in the single-stage humidifier configuration
is represented by the line A-B on the psychometric chart. In the
single-stage humidifier configuration, the water and air streams
are homogeneously mixed in the bubble column and a large tem-
perature difference that increases the irreversibility of the system
is present. The air humidification process in the two-stage humid-
ifier configuration is represented by the line A-20 for the second
stage and the line 20 -B0 for the first stage on the psychometric
chart. As the number of stages are increased from 1 to 2, hot humid
air at the exit of the second bubble column stage (represented by
point 20 on the psychometric chart) also passes over the neighbor-
ing first bubble column stage (represented by line 20 -B0 on psycho-
metric chart). The first bubble column operates at a higher
temperature as compared to the second column. This allows the
air to absorb more moisture and achieve a higher absolute humid-
ity at the exit of the humidifier operated in the two-stage configu-
ration. Similarly, when the humidifier is operated in the three-
stage configuration, the air at the exit of the third bubble column
stage (represented by point 300 on the psychometric chart) also
passes over the neighboring second bubble column stage (repre-
sented by line 300 -200 on the psychometric chart) and first bubble
column stage (represented by line 200 -B00 on the psychometric
chart). This allows air more time for heat and mass transfer and
air becomes hotter and more humid at the exit of the humidifier
operated in the three-stage configuration.
2. Experimental setup and procedure
A laboratory scale setup shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 was designed
and built to investigate the performance of the proposed humidi-
fier. Fig. 3 depicts a schematic illustration of the proposed humid-
ifier and Fig. 4 shows a photograph of the actual experimental
setup. The enclosure of the multistage experimental setup was
constructed using 10 mm thick Plexiglas sheet. Plexiglas is a trans-
parent thermoplastic material that has a thermal conductivity of
0.19 W/m K. The use of transparent material allows the observa-
tion of the process inside the unit during experiments. Another
advantage of using Plexiglas is its low thermal conductivity which
reduces the heat loses from the system. Plexiglas was also used to
construct the three bubble columns of 300 mm  300 mm cross
section in a stepped configuration. Air is passed through the perfo-
rated plates to form bubbles in a pool of hot water in the bubble
columns. The perforated plates of 300 mm  300 mm in cross sec-
tion were made from a 2 mm thick black acrylic Plexiglas sheet.
Each perforated plate splits a bubble column into lower and upper
compartments. Air is introduced using a 400 W blower with an
adjustable flow rate to the lower compartment of each bubble col-
532 H.M. Abd-ur-Rehman, F.A. Al-Sulaiman / Applied Thermal Engineering 120 (2017) 530536

Fig. 2. Psychometric chart for the air humidification process in the humidifier operated in the single-stage, two-stage, and three-stage configurations. [The experiments were
conducted at a water column height of 3 cm, inlet water temperature of 60 C, inlet air temperature of 32 C, relative humidity of 50% of air at the inlet, and superficial velocity
of air of 25 cm/s.]

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup. (1) Air blower; (2) Orifice meter; (3) Manometer; (4, 9, 10, 11) Thermocouples, (5) Perforated plates; (6) Heated water
supply; (7) Throttle valve; (8) Rotameter; (12) Humidifier air outlet.

umn through a 25 mm diameter CPVC pipe. The lower compart-
ment of each bubble column is used to distribute the air stream
uniformly through the perforated plate. The upper compartment
of each bubble column is used as a pool for the hot water through
which air is passed to form bubbles.
2.1. Experimental procedure

The experiment is commenced by blowing air using the air
blower (1). If water is introduced without blowing air first,
the water will flow through the perforated plates (5).
 H.M. Abd-ur-Rehman, F.A. Al-Sulaiman / Applied Thermal Engineering 120 (2017) 530536
Fig. 4. Photograph of the experimental setup.

The volumetric flow rate of air from the blower is adjustable
and is measured by an orifice meter (2) connected to a
manometer (3) to measure the pressure drop across the orifice
plate, allowing the calculation of the air flow rate. The dry-bulb/
wet-bulb temperatures of the air stream are measured using K-
type thermocouples (4) before air enters the humidifier.

When air is flowing through the perforated plates, the heated
water is introduced to the tanks (6). The volumetric flow rate
of water is measured using a rotameter (8) adjusted to the
desired value by a throttle valve (7). Temperature of water is
measured using a thermocouple (9) before water enters the
humidifier.

The desired temperature of water is achieved using four electri-
cally heated elements of 1.2 kW power each, combined with a
thermostat. Hot water at the desired temperature is introduced
to the bubble column chambers where the air flowing through
the perforated plates forms bubbles in the pools of hot water.
Air is heated and humidified until it reaches the exit of the
humidifier (12) by the simultaneous heat and mass transfer to
the air bubbles as they rise through the hot water columns.

Dry-bulb/wet-bulb temperatures of the hot and humid air are
recorded using thermocouples (11) at the exit of the humidifier.
A data acquisition system consisting of five NI 9213 thermocou-
ple modules installed in a NI cDAQ-9178 USB chassis is connected
to a computer. Thermocouple readings are displayed and stored
using Labview program. Real-time processed thermocouple read-
ings are taken every 2 s and the average temperature measured
by each thermocouple is recorded every 5 min using the developed
Labview program.
The uncertainty in the measured value is calculated as the root
sum square of the fixed error of the instrumentation and the ran-
dom error observed during different measurements [29]. The
water temperature as well as the dry-bulb/wet-bulb temperatures
of air are measured with K-type thermocouples that have the range
of 267316 C with an accuracy of 0.1 C. The estimated uncer-
tainty of the thermocouples along with the data acquisition system
is 0.25 C. The absolute humidity of air is determined using the
psychometric calculations of the dry-bulb/wet-bulb temperatures
at different locations in the humidifier. The uncertainty in the mea-
sured values of the absolute humidity is 0.93%. The volumetric
flow rate of the water is measured using the float type rotameter
that has a range of 17 L/min with an accuracy of 5% of full scale.
The volumetric flow rate of air is measured using an orifice air flow
533
meter that is designed and installed according to the ISO 5167
benchmark design recommendations. The orifice flow meter is
connected to a U-tube manometer that has a range of 0.150 cm
H2O with an accuracy of 0.1 cm. The U-tube manometer provides
the pressure drop across the orifice plate that is used to calculate
the volumetric flow rate of the air. The volumetric flow rate of
the air is divided by the cross-sectional area of the bubble column
to get the superficial velocity of air. The uncertainty in the mea-
sured values of the superficial velocity of air is 0.79 cm/s. The val-
ues of the superficial velocity of air are cross checked with the help
of hot wire anemometer that has a range of 025.4 m/s with an
accuracy of 1.5% of full scale.
3. Results and discussion
One of the major challenges in the experimental investigation of
a bubble column humidifier is the optimization of the geometric
features of the perforated plates, so that a lower pressure drop is
achieved without water leakage through the perforations. Hence,
three different perforated plates were designed and tested. The
geometric features of the three perforated plates used during the
experimental work are listed in Table 1.
The three designs of perforated plates were tested at different
superficial velocities of air and the results are shown in Fig. 5.
The minimum pressure drop was achieved using Design 1 due to
the larger hole diameter and higher open area ratio compared to
the other two designs. However, water leakage was observed from
the perforations during the experiments. The hole diameter was
reduced from 3 mm to 2 mm in Design 2 keeping the number of
holes the same as in Design 1, i.e., 105 holes to overcome water
leakage. Although Design 2 was effective in preventing water leak-
age from the perforations, the pressure drop is high. The high pres-
sure drop is due to the low open area ratio in Design 2. Thus, the
number of 2-mm holes was increased to 149 in Design 3. The
higher number of holes increases the open area ratio and reduces
the pressure drop as compared to Design 2. Moreover, no leakage
was observed with Design 3 during the experiment. Therefore,
Design 3 was selected as the best choice for the experimental
setup.
After selecting the best design of the perforated plate (i.e.,
Design 3), experiments were performed to determine the optimum
values of superficial velocity of air and water column height that
gives the best performance of the humidifier. Initially, the humid-
534 H.M. Abd-ur-Rehman, F.A. Al-Sulaiman / Applied Thermal Engineering 120 (2017) 530536

Table 1
Geometric features of the three designs of the perforated plates tested.

Number of holes Hole Diameter (mm) Pitch size (mm) Open Area Ratio (%)
Design 1 105 3 25 0.77
Design 2 105 2 25 0.33
Design 3 149 2 20 0.49

3.5 3 cm and 5 cm, the absolute humidity increases with increasing

Design 1
Design 2
air superficial velocity. The higher absolute humidity at a higher
3 Design 3 air superficial velocity is attributed to the formation of more bub-
bles of comparatively larger size that provides a larger interfacial
2.5 area. Consequently, better heat and mass transfer take place in
Pressure drop (kPa)

the bubble column. The maximum absolute humidity achieved at

2 water column heights of 3 cm and 5 cm are 242 gw/kga and
1.5
1
0.5
0 analyzed in terms of the pressure drop in the multistage bubble
15 20 25
Air superficial velocity (cm/s)
Fig. 5. Influence of the superficial velocity of air on the pressure drop for the three
evaluated designs of the perforated plate.
ifier was operated in the single-stage configuration and its perfor-
mance was evaluated based on the amount of vapor in the moist
air (absolute humidity) at the exit of the humidifier. Fig. 6 shows
the effect of varying superficial velocity of air on the absolute
humidity at the exit of the humidifier when the water column
height is maintained at; (a) 1 cm, (b) 3 cm, and (c) 5 cm. The results
show that the highest value of absolute humidity attained at the
lowest water column height of 1 cm with an air superficial velocity
of 25 cm/s is 248 gw/kga. Further increase in the air superficial
velocity at a water column height of 1 cm slightly reduces the
absolute humidity at the exit of the humidifier. This is due to the
lower contact time of air in the water column due to air flowing
very quickly through the shallow water column height of 1 cm.
For all other experiments performed at water column heights of
238 gw/kga, respectively. In terms of the absolute humidity, the
best results for water column heights of 1 cm, 3 cm, and 5 cm are
obtained at air superficial velocities of 25 cm/s, 30 cm/s, and
30 cm/s, respectively.
The optimum values of the superficial velocity of air and water
column height obtained from the single-stage experiments were
30 column humidifier. Fig. 7 depicts the total pressure drop in all
three stages under the optimum values of superficial velocity of
air and water column height. The results show that the pressure
drop is higher at water column heights of 5 cm and 3 cm with a
superficial velocity of 30 cm/s than that at a water column height
of 1 cm with a superficial velocity of 25 cm/s. Thus, a water column
height of 1 cm with a superficial velocity of 25 cm/s provides an
optimum balance for a better system performance with a lower
pressure drop.
The water temperature at the inlet of the humidifier is the factor
that affects the performance of the humidifier the most. Therefore,
the performance of the single-stage, two-stage, and three-stage
bubble column humidifier was analyzed and compared as a func-
tion of the inlet water temperature. The performance was evaluated
in terms of the absolute humidity when the water temperature at
the inlet of the humidifier is varied in the range of 3575 C. The
water column height was maintained at 1 cm and air was intro-
duced at a superficial velocity of 25 cm/s. The results are shown
in Fig. 8. The absolute humidity increases exponentially with
increasing inlet water temperature irrespective of the number of

Fig. 6. Influence of the water temperature on the absolute humidity at different superficial velocities of air at a water column height of; (a) 1 cm, (b) 3 cm, and (c) 5 cm.
 H.M. Abd-ur-Rehman, F.A. Al-Sulaiman / Applied Thermal Engineering 120 (2017) 530536 535

4 24 Two stage configuration Three stage configuration

Percentage Increase in Absolute Humidity (%)

Water column height of 1 cm with air superficial velocity of 25 cm/s
3.7 Water column height of 3 cm with air superficial velocity of 30 cm/s

3.4 Water column height of 5 cm with air superficial velocity of 30 cm/s 21

Total pressre drop (kPa)

3.1
18
2.8
2.5 15

2.2
12
1.9
1.6 9
1.3
6
1
1 2 3
Number of stages 3

Fig. 7. Total pressure drop in the humidifier. 0

stages. However, the increase in the number of stages increases the
residence time of the moist air for further heating and humidifica-
tion. As a consequence, a higher absolute humidity is achieved at
the exit of the humidifier. The maximum absolute humidity
achieved at 75 C for a single-stage, two-stage, and three-stage
humidifier are 248 gw/kga, 264 gw/kga, and 298 gw/kga, respectively.
The percentage increase in the absolute humidity achieved by
the two-stage and three-stage humidifiers with respect to the
absolute humidity of a single-stage humidifier as a function of
the inlet water temperature is shown in Fig. 9. The results indicate
that the absolute humidity achieved by the two-stage and three-
stage bubble column humidifiers are, respectively 79% and 18
21% higher than that of the single-stage bubble column humidifier.
4. Comparison of results with published data
The performance of the humidifier used in this study is com-
pared with the published data in terms of vapor content difference
achieved as a function of the inlet water temperature. Fig. 10
shows the comparison of the vapor content difference achieved
in the present study and three different studies from literature.
Garg et al. [30] used a packed bed humidifier with an indigenous
structure to enhance the evaporation process in his multi-effect
HDH water desalination system. The reported vapor content differ-
ence value is 66 gw/kga at 70 C. Dai and Zhang [31] stated the use
35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75
Water Temperature [C]
Fig. 9. Percentage increase in the absolute humidity achieved by the two-stage and
three-stage configurations with respect to that of the single-stage configuration as a
function of the inlet water temperature.
of falling film humidification chamber with larger surface area and
forced convection. The study concluded that the system performed
better in the higher temperature range (7090 C) and reported the
achieved vapor content difference value of 174 gw/kga at 85 C.
El-Agouz and Abugerah [24] studied the performance of bubble
column humidifier and reported the achieved vapor content
difference value of 85 gw/kga and 110 gw/kga at the inlet water
temperature of 55 C and 60 C, respectively. The values of vapor
content difference achieved in the present study under the
optimized single-stage configuration are 89 gw/kga at 55 C and
115 gw/kga at 60 C, which are much higher than the values stated
by Garg et al. [30] and Dai and Zhang [31]. There is not much
difference in the vapor content difference when the results of sin-
gle stage humidifier in the present study is compared with the
published results of Agouz and Abugerah [24]. However, the
achieved vapor content difference by the humidifier in three-
stage configuration is 139 gw/kga at 60 C, that is significantly
higher as compared to the results published by Agouz and
Abugerah [24]. The higher value of vapor content difference in
three-stage configuration is achieved due to the several stages of

300 Single stage 300 Garg et al. [30]

Dai and Zhang [31]
275 Two stages 275
El-Agouz and Abugderah [24]
Vapor content difference (gw/kga)

Three stages 250

250 Present study (Single stage)
Present study (Three stages)
Absolute Humidity (gw/kga)

225 225

200 200

175 175

150 150

125 125

100 100

75 75

50 50

25 25

0 0
35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85
Water Temperature [C] Water Temperature [C]

Fig. 8. Variation of the absolute humidity with the inlet water temperature for the Fig. 10. Comparison of the difference in the vapor content as a function of the water
single-stage, two-stage, and three stage-configurations. temperature obtained in the present study with those published in the literature.
536 H.M. Abd-ur-Rehman, F.A. Al-Sulaiman / Applied Thermal Engineering 120 (2017) 530536
air heating and humidification. The concept of air heating and
humidification in several stages was presented earlier by Chafik
[32] to develop an optimized solar HDH desalination plant that
can produce 10 m3/d for a small community. The vapor content dif-
ference reported by Chafik is 138 gw/kga at 60 C after fifteen stages
of air heating and humidification process that is comparable to the
results obtained in this study when the humidifier is operated in
three-stage configuration. Hence, the results of the present study
demonstrate a significant improvement in the humidification pro-
cess that eventually help in improving the performance of the
complete HDH water desalination system.
5. Conclusions
The following are the main findings of this study, undertaken
with the aim of obtaining the optimum operating conditions for
a novel humidifier design:

The humidifier design uses a multistage configuration that sig-
nificantly increases the heat and mass transfer to air by increas-
ing its residence time in the humidifier. Consequently, the air
exiting the humidifier is hotter and more humid. Other advan-
tages of this design is its stepped configuration that allows
the water stream to maintain a minimum desirable water col-
umn height and water passing through the stages under the
force of gravity. A minimum water height in the bubble col-
umns results in a lower air side pressure drop.

Findings reveal that a minimum pressure drop was obtained at
a lower water column height and a higher superficial velocity of
air. Experiments were performed to determine the optimum
values of the superficial velocity of air and water column height.
A water column height of 1 cm with a superficial velocity of air
of 25 cm/s resulted in an optimum balance for a higher system
performance with a lower pressure drop.

The performance of the single-stage, two-stage, and three-stage
bubble column humidifiers was evaluated by determining the
absolute humidity at an inlet water temperature in the range
of 35 C to 75 C. Findings indicate that the absolute humidity
exponentially increases with increasing water temperature at
the inlet. The percentage increase in the absolute humidity
achieved by the two-stage and three-stage bubble column
humidifiers are, respectively, 79% and 1821% higher than
the absolute humidity of the single-stage bubble column
humidifier.
Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge the support of King Fahd University
of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia for this
work through the project IN131041 and the support of the Center
of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy, KFUPM, Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia. Also, the authors acknowledge the undergraduate
students for manufacturing and assembling the experimental
setup.
References
[1] L. Addams, G. Boccaletti, M. Kerlin, M. Stuchtey, Charting Our Water Future:
Economic Frameworks to Inform Decision-Making, McKinsey & Company, New
York, USA, 2009.
[2] World Health Organization, The World Health Report 2002: Reducing Risks,
Promoting Healthy Life, World Health Organization, 2002.
[3] J.E. Miller, Review of Water Resources and Desalination Technologies. Sandia
National Labs Unlimited Release Report SAND-2003-0800, 2003.
[4] S.W. Sharshir, N. Yang, G. Peng, A.E. Kabeel, Factors affecting solar stills
productivity and improvement techniques: a detailed review, Appl. Therm.
Eng. 100 (2016) 267284.
[5] L. Cioccolanti, A. Savoretti, M. Renzi, F. Caresana, G. Comodi, Comparison of
different operation modes of a single effect thermal desalination plant using
waste heat from m-CHP units, Appl. Therm. Eng. 100 (2016) 646657.
[6] A.H. Beitelmal, D. Fabris, Off-the grid solar-powered portable desalination
system, Appl. Therm. Eng. 85 (2015) 172178.
[7] G.P. Narayan, J.H. Lienhard, Thermal design of humidification
dehumidification systems for affordable small-scale desalination, IDA J.
Desalinat. Water Reuse 4 (3) (2012) 2434.
[8] F.A. Al-Sulaiman, M.I. Zubair, M. Atif, P. Gandhidasan, S.A. Al-Dini, M.A. Antar,
Humidification dehumidification desalination system using parabolic trough
solar air collector, Appl. Therm. Eng. 75 (2015) 809816.
[9] R.K. McGovern, G.P. Thiel, G.P. Narayan, S.M. Zubair, J.H. Lienhard, Performance
limits of zero and single extraction humidification-dehumidification
desalination systems, Appl. Energy 102 (2013) 10811090.
[10] H.T. El-Dessouky, Humidification-dehumidification desalination process using
waste heat from a gas turbine, Desalination 71 (1) (1989) 1933.
[11] M.S. Abdel-Salam, M.M. Hilal, A.F. El-Dib, M. Abdel Monem, Experimental
study of humidification-dehumidification desalination system, Energy Sources
15 (3) (1993) 475490.
[12] S. Al-Hallaj, M.M. Farid, A.R. Tamimi, Solar desalination with a humidification-
dehumidification cycle: performance of the unit, Desalination 120 (3) (1998)
273280.
[13] H. Mller-Holst, M. Engelhardt, W. Schlkopf, Small-scale thermal seawater
desalination simulation and optimization of system design, Desalination 122
(2) (1999) 255262.
[14] K. Bourouni, M.T. Chaibi, L. Tadrist, Water desalination by humidification and
dehumidification of air: state of the art, Desalination 137 (1) (2001) 167176.
[15] R.H. Xiong, S.C. Wang, L.X. Xie, Z. Wang, P.L. Li, Experimental investigation of a
baffled shell and tube desalination column using the humidification-
dehumidification process, Desalination 180 (1) (2005) 253261.
[16] R.H. Xiong, S.C. Wang, Z. Wang, Experimental investigation of a vertical tubular
desalination unit using humidification dehumidification process, Chin. J.
Chem. Eng. 13 (3) (2005) 324328.
[17] J.F. Klausner, Y. Li, R. Mei, Evaporative heat and mass transfer for the diffusion
driven desalination process, Heat Mass Transf. 42 (6) (2006) 528536.
[18] Y. Li, J.F. Klausner, R. Mei, Performance characteristics of the diffusion driven
desalination process, Desalination 196 (13) (2006) 188209.
[19] Y. Li, J.F. Klausner, R. Mei, J. Knight, Direct contact condensation in packed
beds, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 49 (25) (2006) 47514761.
[20] G.P. Narayan, M.H. Sharqawy, S. Lam, S.K. Das, J.H. Lienhard, Bubble columns
for condensation at high concentrations of noncondensable gas: Heat-transfer
model and experiments, AIChE J. 59 (5) (2013) 17801790.
[21] W.F. He, L.N. Xu, D. Han, L. Gao, C. Yue, W.H. Pu, Thermodynamic investigation
of waste heat driven desalination unit based on humidification
dehumidification (HDH) processes, Appl. Therm. Eng. 100 (2016) 315324.
[22] R.E. Treybal, Mass Transfer Operation, McGraw-Hill, NewYork, 1980.
[23] S. Degaleesan, M. Dudukovic, Y. Pan, Experimental study of gas-induced
liquid-flow structures in bubble columns, AIChE J. 47 (2001) 19131931.
[24] S.A. El-Agouz, M. Abugderah, Experimental analysis of humidification process
by air passing through seawater, Energy Convers. Manage. 49 (12) (2008)
36983703.
[25] S.A. El-Agouz, Desalination based on humidificationdehumidification by air
bubbles passing through brackish water, Chem. Eng. J. 165 (2) (2010) 413419.
[26] L. Zhang, S. Gao, H. Zhang, Experimental researches of factors affecting
bubbling humidification, in: Advances in Computer Science, Intelligent System
and Environment, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, 2011, pp. 359364.
[27] L. Zhang, G. Cheng, S. Gao, Experimental study on air bubbling humidification,
Desalinat. Water Treatment 29 (13) (2011) 258263.
[28] A. Khalil, S.A. El-Agouz, Y.A.F. El-Samadony, A. Abdo, Solar water desalination
using an air bubble column humidifier, Desalination 372 (2015) 716.
[29] N.C. Barford, J.W. Richards, J.B. Kelley, Experimental measurements: precision,
error and truth and interpretation of technical data, Phys. Today 22 (1) (2009)
109111.
[30] H.P. Garg, R.S. Adhikari, R. Kumar, Experimental design and computer
simulation of multi-effect humidification (MEH)-dehumidification solar
distillation, Desalination 153 (1) (2003) 8186.
[31] Y.J. Dai, H.F. Zhang, Experimental investigation of a solar desalination unit
with humidification and dehumidification, Desalination 130 (2) (2000) 169
175.
[32] E. Chafik, A new seawater desalination process using solar energy,
Desalination 153 (1) (2003) 2537.