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Performance analysis of crushed gravel sand heat storage and biomass evaporator-assisted single slope solar still

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 28, pages 65610–65620 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

In this research work, the productivity, energy, exergy, and economic and enviro-economic performance in crushed gravel sand heat storage and biomass evaporator-assisted solar still (CGS-BSS) have been investigated and compared the results with conventional solar still (CSS) under the similar climatic conditions of Coimbatore City during the year 2019. The heat accumulated in crushed gravel sand and biomass evaporator have been used to preheat the inlet saline water and air vapor before entering into the solar still. This results in enhanced air vapor mixture temperature and evaporative heat transfer rate of CGS-BSS significantly. The productivity, energy, and exergy efficiencies in CGS-BSS were improved by 34.6%, 34.4%, and 35%, respectively when compared to CSS. In economic analysis, the payback period (PBP) in both CGS-BSS and CSS was estimated to be about 4.7 months and 3.9 months, respectively. Furthermore, in enviro-economic analysis, the CO2 emission estimated in CGS-BSS and CSS was about 16.63 tons and 8.18 tons, respectively during its lifetime of 10 years.

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Availability of data and materials

Applicable.

Abbreviations

A :

basin area, m2

E :

energy, W

E x :

exergy, W

I(t):

solar irradiation, W/m2

h :

heat transfer co-efficient, W/m2K

L :

latent heat, kJ/kg

m :

hourly productivity, kg

n :

number of years

P :

pressure, N/m2

T :

temperature, K

\( {N}_{co_2} \) :

net CO2 mitigation

\( {R}_{co_2} \) :

market price of CO2 mitigation

ɛ eff :

effective emissivity

σ :

Stefan-Boltzmann constant, 5.67 × 10−8 W/m2K4

ɳ :

efficiency

a :

ambient air

c :

convection

eva :

evaporation

g :

glass

in :

embodied energy

n :

annual rate

o :

overall

out :

output energy

p d :

annual productivity

s :

sun

ss :

solar still

w :

water

AC :

annual cost

AMC :

annual maintenance cost

ASV :

annual salvage value

CGS-BSS :

crushed gravel sand and biomass solar still

CC :

capital cost

CCE :

carbon credit earned

CPL :

cost per liter

CRF :

capital recovery factor

CSS :

conventional solar still

FAC :

fixed annual cost

LT :

life time of the solar still

PBP :

payback period

S :

salvage value

SFF :

sinking fund factor

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hindusthan College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, 641032, India

    Ramasamy Dhivagar & Murugesan Mohanraj

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, QIS College of Engineering and Technology, Ongole, 523272, India

    Ramasamy Dhivagar

  3. Department of Mechanics, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    Murugesan Mohanraj &  Yerzhan Belyayev

  4. Department of Applied Mechanics and Engineering Graphics, Satbayev University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    Yerzhan Belyayev

Authors
  1. Ramasamy Dhivagar
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  2. Murugesan Mohanraj
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  3. Yerzhan Belyayev
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Contributions

Ramasamy Dhivagar— Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing - original draft. 

Murugesan Mohanraj— Supervision. 

Yerzhan Belyayev— Supervision. 

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ramasamy Dhivagar.

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Appendix

Appendix

In energy analysis, the mathematical relations of Pg, Pw, and εeff are given below:

$$ {P}_g=\mathit{\exp}\ \left[25.317-\frac{\mathrm{5,144}}{T_g+273}\right] $$
(25)
$$ {P}_w=\mathit{\exp}\ \left[25.317-\frac{\mathrm{5,144}}{T_w+273}\right] $$
(26)
$$ {\varepsilon}_{eff}=\frac{1}{\left[\frac{1}{\varepsilon_w}+\frac{1}{\varepsilon_g}-1\right]} $$
(A3)

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Dhivagar, ., Mohanraj, M. & Belyayev, . Performance analysis of crushed gravel sand heat storage and biomass evaporator-assisted single slope solar still. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 65610–65620 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15487-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15487-w

Keywords

  • Biomass evaporator
  • Crushed gravel sand
  • Energy
  • Exergy
  • Productivity
  • Solar still