Abstract
Solar still is the easiest method to purifying the saline water for domestic usage, but this method needs much improvement for better performance since it has lower productivity. In this paper, an experimental investigation is completed to analyse the semi cylindrical solar productivity still. The semi-cylindrical still is incorporated with direct atomizer and scrap used as an energy storage medium. Experiments are carried out during March 2020 in Kovilpatti, the southern part of India, with a depth of 2 and 4 cm saline water. Comparative performance analysis is made for conventional semi-cylindrical still, semi-cylindrical still with an atomizer, and semi-cylindrical still with atomizer and storage materials. The experimental study shows that the productivity of still increases while decreasing the water depth. Compared with 2-cm and 4-cm depth, solar still with 2-cm depth gives promising distillate productivity. The solar productivity still having 4-cm depth of water without atomizer gives only 2670 ml; on the other side, 2-cm water depth without atomizer gives 3100-ml productivity. The maximum productivity of solar still is found on a semi-cylindrical solar still combined with atomizer and energy storage medium having 2-cm water depth. Results revealed a higher freshwater production rate of 3610 ml found while incorporating atomizer and energy storage with the solar still. The system efficiency improved up to 35.20% compared to conventional semi-cylindrical still with 4 cm of saline water depth.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- SHM:
-
Heat storage material
- EPT:
-
Energy payback time
- EPF:
-
Energy production factor
- LCCE:
-
Life cycle conversion efficiency
- Ein :
-
Embodied energy of the SAH (kW h)
- Eout :
-
Annual energy output (kW h/yr)
- TL :
-
Total lifetime of the system
- Esol :
-
Total annual life-long solar radiation (KWh)
- C:
-
Cost of yield per liter
- TAC:
-
Total annual cost in INR
- TAY:
-
Total accumulated yield in lifetime
- FAC:
-
Fixed annual cost in INR
- AMC:
-
Annual maintenance cost in INR
- ASC:
-
Annual salvage cost in INR
- I:
-
Interest rate in INR
- ASC:
-
Annual salvage cost in INR
- S:
-
Salvage value
- SFF:
-
Sinking fund factor
- PCC:
-
Primary capital cost in INR
- CO2 :
-
Carbon dioxide
- NO:
-
Nitric oxide
- SO2 :
-
Sulphur dioxide
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VR carried out all the experiments for evaluating the performance of the solar still and written the research paper. VKR and JVR fabricated the solar still and contributed to experimental work and paper writing.
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Kumar, R.V., Vijayakumar, R. & Venkatesh, R.J. An effective solar assisted semi-cylindrical saline water desalination system with direct atomizer and energy storage materials for domestic use: an experimental investigation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 120564–120575 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30896-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30896-9