Solar Energy Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Karaikal, UT of Puducherry, 609609, India.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Sep;28(33):45985-46006. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-13495-4. Epub 2021 Apr 22.
Solar still is one of the economic and eminent ways of desalinating the available sea/brackish water into potable water. However, the distillate output from the solar still is moderate and various researches are being conducted to improve the productivity of solar still. In this research, a novel bottom finned (solid and hollow) absorber basin is designed and developed to enhance the heat transfer between absorber and phase change material (PCM) which further improves the freshwater productivity from the solar still. The results of the investigation are compared with the conventional solar still. The three single-slope solar stills considered developed for evaluating the effect of modification on the freshwater productivity are (i) conventional solar still (CSS), (ii) solar still with hollow finned absorber inserted in energy storage (SSHFES), and (c) solar still with solid finned absorber inserted in energy storage (SSSFES). The investigation results reported that the SSHFES has greater productivity when compared with the SSSFES and CSS. The freshwater productivity from the SSHFES is 4085 mL/m day, whereas the freshwater productivity from SSSFES and CSS is 3485 mL/m day and 2885 mL/m day, respectively. The efficiency of SSHFES and SSSFES is increased by 41.67% and 20.81% relative to the CSS. It is observed from economic analysis that the cost per liter (CPL) freshwater produced by SSHFES, SSSFES and CSS is about ₹ 2.3 ($ 0.032), ₹ 2.5 ($ 0.034), and ₹2.6 ($ 0.036), respectively. The payback periods of SSHFES, SSSFES, and CSS is 6.3 months, 6.8 months, and 7.1 months, respectively. Also, the enviroeconomic analysis conferred that the carbon credit gained from the SSHFES is $189.28 whereas SSSFES and CSS gained only $158.2 and $132.02. Based on the current study, it is observed that the solar still with hollow finned absorber inserted in energy storage (SSHFES) is effective when compared to others and it is viable for potable water production at cheaper costs.
太阳能蒸馏器是将现有海水/苦咸水淡化成饮用水的经济高效方法之一。然而,太阳能蒸馏器的蒸馏水产量适中,因此正在进行各种研究以提高太阳能蒸馏器的生产力。在这项研究中,设计和开发了一种新颖的底部翅片(实心和空心)吸收器盆地,以增强吸收器和相变材料(PCM)之间的传热,从而进一步提高太阳能蒸馏器的淡水产量。研究结果与传统太阳能蒸馏器进行了比较。为了评估改性对淡水产量的影响,考虑了三种单坡太阳能蒸馏器进行评估:(i)传统太阳能蒸馏器(CSS),(ii)插入储能的空心翅片吸收器太阳能蒸馏器(SSHFES),和(c)插入储能的实心翅片吸收器太阳能蒸馏器(SSSFES)。研究结果表明,与 SSSFES 和 CSS 相比,SSHFES 具有更高的生产力。SSHFES 的淡水产量为 4085 毫升/米/天,而 SSSFES 和 CSS 的淡水产量分别为 3485 毫升/米/天和 2885 毫升/米/天。SSHFES 和 SSSFES 的效率分别相对于 CSS 提高了 41.67%和 20.81%。从经济分析来看,SSHFES、SSSFES 和 CSS 每升(CPL)淡水的成本约为 ₹2.3($0.032)、₹2.5($0.034)和 ₹2.6($0.036)。SSHFES、SSSFES 和 CSS 的投资回收期分别为 6.3 个月、6.8 个月和 7.1 个月。此外,环境经济分析表明,SSHFES 获得的碳信用额为 189.28 美元,而 SSSFES 和 CSS 仅获得 158.2 美元和 132.02 美元。根据目前的研究,观察到插入储能的空心翅片吸收器太阳能蒸馏器(SSHFES)与其他太阳能蒸馏器相比更为有效,并且以更低的成本生产饮用水是可行的。