Development of Membrane Contactors for Greenhouse Climate Control

Cultivation in greenhouse requires high water quantity for irrigation and sometimes for internal climate conditioning. Water resource is becoming more and more poor. The proposed system allows making greenhouses self-sufficient from the point of view of water needs and self-conditioned at a very low energy cost. Moreover it could allow cultivation in areas where drinkable water is scarce, since it can use as primary source saline or brackish water. This is a new concept of greenhouse, patented by Centro Ricerche FIAT (CRF), in which membranes, waterproof but permeable to vapor, are used in order to improve a cooling system. The management of membrane contactors allows, with lower energy expense with respect to standard air conditioning systems, allows to control both temperature and lowest humidity level inside the greenhouse, thus reducing water need. Saline water is used upstream for cooling and clean water is obtained, by means of downstream condensation.Copyright © 2006 by ASME