Adsorption-based desalination (AD) is attracting increasing attention because of its ability to co-generate double-distilled fresh water and cooling. In this paper, a thermodynamic model has been developed in order to study the factors that influence the fresh water production rate (FWPR) and energy consumption of an adsorption-based desalination system. Water adsorption on the silica gel adsorbent is modelled using a Langmuir isotherm and the factors studied are the silica gel adsorption equilibrium constant and the temperatures of the hot and cooling water which supply and extract heat from the silica gel respectively. (C) 2010 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.