TY - JOUR
T1 - A self-sustainable solar desalination system using direct spray technology
AU - Chen, Qian
AU - Alrowais, Raid
AU - Burhan, Muhammad
AU - Ybyraiymkul, Doskhan
AU - Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil
AU - Li, Yong
AU - Ng, Kim Choon
PY - 2020/8/15
Y1 - 2020/8/15
N2 - Solar desalination offers a sustainable solution to growing global water demand due to the geographical coincidence between high solar availability and severe water scarcity. This paper presents a self-sustainable solar desalination system combining a spray-assisted low-temperature desalination system, solar thermal collectors, and heat storage tanks. A mathematical model is firstly developed and validated with laboratory pilot for the proposed large-scale solar-powered desalination system. Afterward, the long-term productivity and energy efficiency of the system is evaluated under the climatic conditions of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The proposed solar desalination system is able to provide an uninterrupted water supply of 20 kg/day for per square meter solar collector area, and the value can be further increased by optimizing the interactions of the three subsystems, i.e. efficiency of the solar collectors, temperature and heat losses in the storage tank, and energy efficiency of the desalination system. With a collector area of 360 m2, the annual productivity is maximized when the feed flowrate is 1.7 kg/s and the diameter of the heat storage tank is 1.9 m. The desalination cost is estimated to be $1.29/m3, which is much lower than other solar thermal desalination systems.
AB - Solar desalination offers a sustainable solution to growing global water demand due to the geographical coincidence between high solar availability and severe water scarcity. This paper presents a self-sustainable solar desalination system combining a spray-assisted low-temperature desalination system, solar thermal collectors, and heat storage tanks. A mathematical model is firstly developed and validated with laboratory pilot for the proposed large-scale solar-powered desalination system. Afterward, the long-term productivity and energy efficiency of the system is evaluated under the climatic conditions of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The proposed solar desalination system is able to provide an uninterrupted water supply of 20 kg/day for per square meter solar collector area, and the value can be further increased by optimizing the interactions of the three subsystems, i.e. efficiency of the solar collectors, temperature and heat losses in the storage tank, and energy efficiency of the desalination system. With a collector area of 360 m2, the annual productivity is maximized when the feed flowrate is 1.7 kg/s and the diameter of the heat storage tank is 1.9 m. The desalination cost is estimated to be $1.29/m3, which is much lower than other solar thermal desalination systems.
KW - Direct spray
KW - Long-term performance
KW - Self-sustainable
KW - Solar desalination
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086458553&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118037
DO - 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118037
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85086458553
SN - 0360-5442
VL - 205
JO - Energy
JF - Energy
M1 - 118037
ER -
