Analysis for optimized prerequisites of modified solar stills.

Area of Science:

• Renewable Energy Engineering
• Thermodynamics
• Environmental Engineering

Background:

• Existing solar still models lack comprehensive analysis of performance factors like vacuum tubes and parabolic concentrators.
• Previous research by Singh & Samsher, and Singh & Gautam (2022) provides a foundation for solar still optimization.
• A need exists to identify optimal configurations for enhanced solar distillation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze and optimize novel solar still models using energetic-exergetic performance and energy matrices.
• To evaluate the relative influence of components like vacuum tubes and parabolic concentrators.
• To identify the most effective solar still arrangement for improved efficiency and economic viability.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of different solar still configurations, including dual slope solar still (DSS) with parabolic solar receiver (PSR) and evacuated annual tubes (EATC).
• Evaluation of energetic and exergetic performances, energy matrices, and basin mass temperature.
• Assessment of natural circulated thermo siphon effects and environmental-economic factors.

Main Results:

• The DSS-EATC-PSR arrangement demonstrated superior performance, enhancing basin mass temperature by 11.4%.
• A natural circulated thermo siphon improved DSS-EATC-PSR performance by 28.1% and 0.1% compared to single-face solar still (SSS) schemes.
• Despite marginal decrements in daily overall efficiencies (8.4% energy, 4.7% exergy), the DSS scheme offered a 4.6% yield improvement with lower costs and significant CO2 mitigation.

Conclusions:

• The DSS-EATC-PSR configuration represents an advanced and enhanced solar still design.
• The proposed solar still arrangement is economically viable with a production cost of $0.07/l and productivity exceeding 100%.
• The study highlights significant environmental benefits, including improved CO2 mitigation and revenue compared to traditional SSS schemes.