Continuous operation of membrane distillation powered by solar vapour absorption refrigeration system using thermal storage tank

Abstract The continuous operation of membrane distillation (MD) powered by solar‐assisted vapour absorption refrigeration (VAR) is studied. A thermal storage tank is utilized under two configurations, namely ST1 and ST2. The design parameters: the solar collector area (), mass rate of the supply energy (), and the storage tank mass () are optimized to achieve minimum loss in power and production (LPG, LPD) and maintain safe temperature for the storage tank. For both structures, using optimal but fixed design parameters throughout the year cannot guarantee optimality. For the ST1 structure, adaptation of or the heat supply, (via ) with time can guarantee annual optimal operation. However, the adaptation of can achieve a 33% and 22% reduction in and the total number of MD units, compared to that of adaptive . Although the average distillate production is reduced by 33%, the average distillate production per surface area is improved by 3.5%. For the ST2 structure, the adaptation of can also provide minimum LPG and LPD but with minor violations of the safe tank temperature. Moreover, the ST2 structure outperforms the ST1 in terms of 44.5% and 71.4% reduction in surface area and number of MD units. Nevertheless, the ST1 structure overtakes ST2 in the sense of 47.7% higher average distillate production and 7.6% higher average distillate production per surface area.