On the different packing materials of humidification–dehumidification thermal desalination techniques – A review

Abstract Sustainable resources of water and energy are the most interesting topics all over the world.They affect strongly the economic health of any society. Because the freshwater is a problem facing many areas around the world, the desalination of brackish water is discovered as a good solution. Humidification dehumidification (HDH) is a distillation technique for low and large-scales of water purification. From the traditional HDH to the modified HDH, several research studies have been conducted to improve the performance of this method. Researchers concluded that the packed bed humidifier is more efficient compared to the other humidifier types. A complete survey on the different types of the packing materials with various designs and configurations is carried out in this study. Regarding this review, it is revealed that HDH is a promising technique which will be continued in the coming future. In addition, it is obtained that the cellulose papers and honey comb papers are the best choice for the packing of the humidifier of HDH system.Hence, additional research is needed to optimize the efficacy and economy of this technique.