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Production of Fresh Water and Green Energy Using Solar-Based Steam Generation

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Abstract

Solar Steam Generation (SSG) is one among the many available methods of Desalination. But, here the name Solar Steam Generation is ineluctable due to its sustainable performance in the coastal region. To move toward the next step in this SSG system, this article makes use of Montmorillonite Clay Nanoparticle and Rice Straw with a view to attain robust evaporation rate and sturdy yield. Here, the Montmorillonite is dispersed in the input sea water which acts as a thermal conversion material, and the Rice Straw culms are used for its better water pumping capacity. The setup, Montmorillonite Clay Nanoparticle with Rice Straw (MMCN-RS) is made for carrying out SSG. The experiment was performed for a span of 2 weeks in two ways: indoor and outdoor. The resulting evaporation rate for 1 sun, 2 sun and 4 sun irradiations were observed as 0.82 kg/m2h, 1.43 kg/m2h and 3.56 kg/m2h, respectively, which means when compared to reference pure water 2.92 times, 3.57 times and 4.50 times the efficiency has been increased. The corresponding yield through MMCN-RS was 5.30–6.90 kg/m2/day. The obtained yield of this work was validated with WHO standards. The use of rice straw is unique which contributes toward unrestricted yield. Also, the highlight of this work is making a trash into utilitarian and the scope behind the work is to provide a solution to the existing socio-economic issue in the coastal regions for the survival. This work is budget friendly which will be useful for even the people in the BPL category and also can make use of this product if any subsidy is given from the government. Also, the operation does not need any technical knowledge and it will really help those in and around the coastal region improving their socio-economic standard.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Puducherry Technological University, Puducherry, 605 014, India

    V. Baskaran & R. Saravanane

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Baskaran, V., Saravanane, R. Production of Fresh Water and Green Energy Using Solar-Based Steam Generation. J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A 104, 913–925 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40030-023-00760-7

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