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Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Background: Freshwater scarcity and growing energy demand have promoted interest in sustainable desalination technologies, particularly in arid areas like Iraq which has high solar resource and decentralized water supply becomes a key factor. Aim: The purpose of this study was to design and test a solar powered water desalination system that could enhance fresh water productivity, thermal efficiency and quality of water under the climatic conditions of Iraq. Methodology: It was designed as hypothetical pilot-scale system that comprised of a single-slope solar still combined with a flat-plate solar collector, a 200 W photovoltaic-driven circulation pump and 18 kg of phase change material to enable thermal storage. Three configurations were tested in the system namely conventional still, collector-assisted still and collector-assisted still with thermal storage under Baghdad climate conditions. The depths of the basin water (20, 30 and 40 mm deep well) were examined. Results: The collector-plus-PCM arrangement at 20 mm depth gave the highest productivity of 5.64 L/m2*day as compared to the conventional system of 3.38 L/m2/day, which is an improvement of 66.9%. Peak basin-water temperature went up to 70.3 degC compared to 61.4 degC and thermal efficiency went up to 48.9% compared to 32.7%. The quality of the distillate was good, and TDS was decreased down to 58 mg/L and the rejection of salt was 98.3 percent. Conclusion: The suggested system had great potential as a viable and sustainable desalination solution to remote and water-stressed areas.

Keywords

Solar desalination, Solar still, Freshwater production, Phase change material, Flat-plate collector, Decentralized water treatment

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