QGreen Low-Carbon Technology: Cooling Greenhouses and Barns Using Geothermal Energy and Seawater Bittern Desiccant

Abstract

In hot-humid climates, cooling greenhouses and barns are needed to protect crops from extremely high temperature and to ensure high-yielding dairy cows. In Qatar, outside air temperature exceeds 46 (cid:1) C during summer, and the wet-bulb temperature can exceed 30 (cid:1) C which makes greenhouses and barns unworkable during this season. This study provides theoretical and experimental data for cooling greenhouses and barns using highly efficient and low-carbon technology (QGreen). QGreen uses groundwater (geothermal) for indirect- direct evaporative cooling coupled with desiccant dehumidification. The desiccant used is seawater bittern which is a by-product of the desalination process. A desiccant indirect- direct evaporative cooling panel system is designed and analyzed. The results show that the use of groundwater will enhance the efficiency and reduce the wet-bulb temperature dra- matically. As a result, the efficiency of the overall cooling system is enhanced by more than 50% compared to the direct evaporative cooling efficiency that was recorded.