Abstract
The exponential population growth has led to severe fresh water availability issues around the world. Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that mostly rely on desalination process to satisfy their fresh water needs in desert regions. The distillation process has become too expensive due to the sharp rise in oil prices. Renewable energy is a promising source for the water distillation process. This work aims to design, fabricate, and test a solar still for purification of salty and brackish water. A semi-cylindrical solar still was designed and tested under Medina climatic conditions. The semi-cylindrical solar still connected with a parabolic trough solar concentrator was supposed to enhance the system performance and the system productivity by warming up the brackish or saltwater before it was directed to the basin. To calculate system efficiency, the temperatures of water in the basin, glass outside and inside surface, inside of the still, and the ambient were measured. It was found that the average intensity of solar radiation was about \(729.8 \mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{m}}^{2}\) per hour and the average system efficiency was found to be 23.38% without a parabolic trough. The system efficiency reached 29.5% by connecting the solar still with a parabolic trough. The maximum productivity of the solar still was found to be 1.8 L/h at peak time, with an average value of 0.9 L/h in May.
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Abbreviations
- A:
-
Apparent solar irradiation = 1080 (W/m2)
- As:
-
Surface area (m2)
- B:
-
Atmospheric extinction coefficient = 0.21 in summer
- C:
-
Constant for a cloudless sky
- FWS :
-
View factor of the surface
- FWG :
-
View factor from ground
- h:
-
Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)
- hfg :
-
Enthalpy (J/kg)
- IDN :
-
Direct solar radiation (W/m2)
- Id :
-
Diffuse solar radiation (W/m2)
- Ir :
-
Reflected solar radiation (W/m2)
- k:
-
Thermal conductivity (W/m2K)
- \(\dot{{\varvec{m}}}\) :
-
Mass flow rate (kg/s)
- m:
-
Mass flow rate (kg/s)
- pH:
-
Acidic/basic water
- QCond :
-
Conduction heat transfer (W)
- QConv :
-
Convection heat transfer (W)
- T:
-
Temperature (K)
- TDS:
-
Total dissolved solids (ppm)
- V:
-
Volume (m3)
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
- β:
-
Altitude angle
- ℓ:
-
Represents latitude angle
- ω:
-
Hour angle
- δ:
-
Declination angle
- Σ:
-
Tilt angle
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KSA performed the conceptualization of whole project with KSA and KAA to design the methodology for scientific progression. Data curation was handled by MAA while analysis was performed by SAA. OMA, MSA performed resource management, experimentation and Alahmadi proof reading. Drafted the manuscript. KSA reviewed and edited the manuscript. All contributing authors agree to the corresponding author for taking any pledge for publication of this manuscript.
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AlQdah, K.S., Alharbi, K.A., Alharbi, S.A. et al. Design, Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of a Semi-Cylindrical Solar Still Working in Medina Region. Arab J Sci Eng 47, 8567–8575 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-06351-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-06351-7