Experimental Investigation of the Combined Effect of Condenser and Phase Change Materials in the Performance of Single Slope Solar Still

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Master's Student in Mechanical Engineering, Department of Renewable Energy, Yazd University, Iran.

2 Faculty Member, Professor, Technical and Engineering Department, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Energy Conversion, Yazd University, Iran.

3 Faculty Member, Assistant Professor, Technical and Engineering Department, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Energy Conversion, Yazd University, Iran.

10.48301/kssa.2023.368106.2333

Abstract

Today, solar desalination is one of the promising solutions for the problem of drinking water shortage, mainly in remote and low-population areas. In the present research, a solar still with passive external condensers was designed. To store the thermal energy in the basin of this solar still, paraffin wax was used in copper tubes as phase change materials. To compare and investigate the performance of the proposed solar still, a conventional solar still with the same specifications and dimensions was built and tested. Both solar stills were investigated on the days of 28 April, 5 and 9 May. The results of the experiments showed that the performance of the proposed solar still was better than the conventional solar still; the highest produced fresh water was 3.55 and 3.04 lit/m2 day, respectively, for the proposed and conventional solar stills, which showed a 17% increase in productivity per day. It is clear from past research that the condenser increases the temperature difference between the glass covers and the saltwater of the basin, but causes the temperature of the saltwater basin to decrease. However, in this research, in addition to the increase in the temperature difference between the glass cover and salt water, the amount of salt water also increased, and this trend of increasing temperature was observed until the end of the day in all three experiments, which shows the effective performance of paraffin wax in the basin of solar still.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

[1] Kabeel, A. E., Abdelgaied, M., & Eisa, A. (2019). Effect of graphite mass concentrations in a mixture of graphite nanoparticles and paraffin wax as hybrid storage materials on performances of solar still. Renewable Energy, 132, 119-128. https://doi.org/10.101 6/j.renene.2018.07.147
[2] United Nations World Water Assessment Programme. (2018). The United Nations world water development report 2018: nature-based solutions for water. Unesco. https://u nesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000261424
[3] Tiwari, G. N., & Sahota, L. (2017). Advanced solar-distillation systems: Basic Principles, Thermal Modeling, and Its Application. Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007 /978-981-10-4672-8
[4] Alshail, K. (2020). Analysis of solar energy in desalination plants in Saudi Arabia [PhD, University of Granada]. Granada, Spain. https://digibug.ugr.es/handle/10481/63503
[5] Bazargan, M., & Ahmadi Ali Beiglooei, M. (2014). Production of fresh water using underground cooling of moist air and solar energy. Journal of Renewable and New Energy, 1(1), 4-15. https://www.jrenew.ir/article_49017.html?lang=en
[6] Mollahosseini, A., Abdelrasoul, A., Sheibany, S., Amini, M., & Salestan, S. K. (2019). Renewable energy-driven desalination opportunities - A case study. Journal of environmental management, 239, 187-197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.03.044
[7] Shalaby, S. M., Kabeel, A. E., & El-Bialy, E. (2019). Investigation and Improvement of the Humidification–Dehumidification Solar Water Desalination System Implemented Wick as Packing Material. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 142(1), 1-26. https ://doi.org/10.1115/1.4044578
[8] Armstrong, P. (2021). Solar humidifier in a humidification-dehumidification type desalination system. (United States Patent No. US10981805B2). Google Patents. https://patents. google.com/patent/US10981805B2/en
[9] Bagheri Esfa, H., Rostamzadeh, R., & Rostamzadeh, M. (2019). Investigation of different solar water desalination systems. Mechanical Engineering, 28(1), 24-34. https://mm ep.isme.ir/article_35743.html
[10] Selvaraj, K., & Natarajan, A. (2018). Factors influencing the performance and productivity of solar stills - A review. Desalination, 435, 181-187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal .2017.09.031
[11] Alwan, N. T., Shcheklein, S., & Ali, O. (2021). Investigation of the coefficient of heat transfer and daily cumulative production in a single-slope solar distiller at different water depths. Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 43(21), 2820-2837. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2020.1842561
[12] Negi, P., Dobriyal, R., Singh, D. B., & Badhotiya, G. K. (2021). A review on passive and active solar still using phase change materials. Materials Today: Proceedings, 46(20), 10433-10438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.12.996
[13] Omara, A. A. M., Abuelnuor, A. A. A., Mohammed, H. A., & Khiadani, M. (2019). Phase change materials (PCMs) for improving solar still productivity: a review. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 139(3), 1585-1617. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10 973-019-08645-3
[14] Sonker, V. K., Chakraborty, J. P., Sarkar, A., & Singh, R. K. (2019). Solar distillation using three different phase change materials stored in a copper cylinder. Energy Reports, 5, 1532-1542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2019.10.023
[15] Sathish Kumar, T. R., Jegadheeswaran, S., & Chandramohan, P. (2018). Performance investigation on fin type solar still with paraffin wax as energy storage media. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 136(1), 101-112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10 973-018-7882-7
[16] Behura, A., & Gupta, H. K. (2021). Use of nanoparticle-embedded phase change material in solar still for productivity enhancement. Materials Today: Proceedings, 45, 3904-3907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.06.285
[17] Kabeel, A., Omara, Z., Essa, F., & Abdullah, A. (2016). Solar still with condenser–A detailed review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 59, 839-857. https://doi.org/10 .1016/j.rser.2016.01.020
[18] Mohaisen, H. S., Esfahani, J. A., & Ayani, M. B. (2021). Improvement in the performance and cost of passive solar stills using a finned-wall/built-in condenser: An experimental study. Renewable Energy, 168(1), 170-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.1 2.056
[19] Hassan, H., & Abo-Elfadl, S. (2017). Effect of the condenser type and the medium of the saline water on the performance of the solar still in hot climate conditions. Desalination, 417, 60-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2017.05.014
[20] Rahmani, A., Khemmar, F., & Saadi, Z. (2021). Experimental investigation on the negative effect of the external condenser on the conventional solar still performance. Desalination, 501, 114914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2020.114914
[21] Mevada, D., Panchal, H., & Sadasivuni, K. K. (2021). Investigation on evacuated tubes coupled solar still with condenser and fins: Experimental, exergo-economic and exergo-environment analysis. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, 27(6), 101217. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.csite.2021.101217
[22] Panchal, H., & Sathyamurthy, R. (2017). Experimental analysis of single-basin solar still with porous fins. International Journal of Ambient Energy, 41(5), 563-569. https://d oi.org/10.1080/01430750.2017.1360206
Karafan Quarterly Scientific Journal
Volume 20, Issue 3
Engineering
December 2024
Pages 81-98

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 04 December 2022
  • Revise Date: 17 March 2023
  • Accept Date: 10 June 2023

Share

How to cite

Statistics