Review of feasible solar energy applications to water processes

Blanco, J.; Malato, Sixto; Fernández‐Ibáñez, Pilar; Alarcón, Diego; Gernjak, Wolfgang; Maldonado, Manuel I.

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2008.08.016

Cited by 194 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Natural gas is heavily used in Western countries and the Middle East for integrated water and power production [15], which causes the environmental pollution. The second is solar-driven steam generation, in which water is heated to produce vapor by concentrating sunlight using optical lenses, resulting in high cost with low efficiency [16]. Recently, scientists and engineers have been actively developing cost-effective solar-driven steam generation systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel Receiver-Enhanced Solar Vapor Generation: Review and Perspectives

Raza

Alzaim

et al. 2018

Energies

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Efficient solar vapor/steam generation is important for various applications ranging from power generation, cooling, desalination systems to compact and portable devices like drinking water purification and sterilization units. However, conventional solar steam generation techniques usually rely on costly and cumbersome optical concentration systems and have relatively low efficiency due to bulk heating of the entire liquid volume. Recently, by incorporating novel light harvesting receivers, a new class of solar steam generation systems has emerged with high vapor generation efficiency. They are categorized in two research streams: volumetric and floating solar receivers. In this paper, we review the basic principles of these solar receivers, the mechanism involving from light absorption to the vapor generation, and the associated challenges. We also highlight the two routes to produce high temperature steam using optical and thermal concentration. Finally, we propose a scalable approach to efficiently harvest solar energy using a semi-spectrally selective absorber with near-perfect visible light absorption and low thermal emittance. Our proposed approach represents a new development in thermally concentrated solar distillation systems, which is also cost-effective and easy to fabricate for rapid industrial deployment.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel Receiver-Enhanced Solar Vapor Generation: Review and Perspectives

Raza

Alzaim

et al. 2018

Energies

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“…According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 884 million people lack from the access to improved water supplies. In the context of the envisaged energy crisis in the future, problems with the provision of healthy drinking water are expected to worsen, or it is expected that the water problems will increase the energy problems due to the close relation between water and energy [2]. In this case, it is important to ensure that drinking water is supplied in sufficient quantity and quality, continuously and economically for developing countries [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drinking Water Disinfection by Solar Radiation

Teksoy¹,

Eleren²

2017

eer

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A primary concern of developing countries throughout the world is that of obtaining safe drinking water. Waterborne diseases are still common in developing countries since drinking water sources are contaminated and the conventional rural water treatment plants are often inefficient to produce safe drinking water. This situation in developing countries is a major problem in terms of preventing public health. It is estimated that diarrhea accounted for 99% of the 69 million deaths among children before the age of five. Inadequate operation and maintenance after installations caused by a lack of trained operators, by a treacherous supply of chemicals and spare parts, and by financial problems lead to produce unhealthy drinking water. Since major urban water supplies are also not always capable of maintaining a regular supply of qualitatively good water, the distributed water is often considered unsafe for direct consumption. Treatment of water at the household level (etc. boiling) or purchasing of mineral water for consumption is more real than an exception in urban areas of developing countries. Recently, another small-scale approach using the lethal effect of sunlight has gained importance to sanitary contaminated water. Solar disinfection (SODIS) is one of the simplest methods for providing acceptable quality drinking water and consists of filling transparent containers (plastic bags, plastic bottles or glass bottles) with water and exposing the containers to sunlight for approximately 6 hours. Because of the low cost and easy usage, solar disinfection is commonly used in developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America. The aim of this literature review is to give information about solar disinfection mechanism, to compare the efficiency of solar disinfection on different microorganisms based on the past studies, and to discuss the several applications of solar disinfection in the world.

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“…Recently, the coupling of desalination processes with renewable energy sources and in particular solar energy has received increasing attention [4,5,6,8], since there is an obvious relation between regions lacking fresh-water resources and having high solar energy potential. Particularly when coupling thermal desalination systems to concentrating solar power plants for electricity production, the consensus in the studies is that they form a good match.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%