Effect of Reflecting Material on CPC to Improve the Performance of Hybrid Groundwater Solar Desalination System

Abstract

Water-energy nexus is a crucial and challenging concern that addressing it is noteworthy for the future of human beings. In addition, freshwater production is a highly energy-intensive procedure. Therefore, developing a suitable solution for this problem is of importance. In the present scenario, solar energy is one of the suitable options for desalination because solar energy is available at a low cost, is clean for the environment, and is widely available. Generally, solar collectors such as flat plate collectors (FPC) and evacuated tube collectors were experimented for desalination applications. This work presents an experimental investigation of a single-stage hybrid (ETC-CPC) groundwater solar desalination system. A compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) is placed below the evacuated tube collector (ETC) for collecting solar radiations to transfer heat to evacuated tubes which improves performance in the case of different weather conditions of Pune city in India. Experimental results show that the hybrid solar groundwater desalination system, by maintaining the optimum distance of 20 mm between ETC and CPC with Mylar as the reflecting material, could offer a drinking water production rate of up to 3.4 l/(m2h)/day. However, the proposed single-stage hybrid (ETC+CPC) groundwater solar desalination system with aluminum foil as a reflecting material could generate 1.9 liters of soft water per day. Further, the use of Mylar as a reflecting material could generate 3.5 liters of soft water per day.

Improved solar still productivity using PCM and nano- PCM composites integerated energy storage

“…These particles can be made of materials such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, or metal oxides, and their high surface area-to-volume ratio can improve heat transfer within the PCM. By increasing the thermal conductivity of the PCM, the heat transfer rate can be improved, and the overall thermal performance of the TES system can be enhanced 26 . Mixing a high-thermal conductivity graphite plate with paraffin wax resulted in a substantial improvement in the total productivity of the solar still.…”