Solar distillation : the solar-driven case

✍ Scribed by J.P. Gerofi; G.G. Fenton; E. Mannik

• Book ID: 104113260
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 743 KB
• Volume: 39
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0011-9164
• DOI: 10.1016/s0011-9164(00)86111-1

✦ Synopsis

This paper considers distillation systems tihere all the plant's thermal energy requirements are provided by solar energy. Fairly small capacity plants are considered operating in remote arid regions. Such systems consist of solar collectors and thermal storage coupled to a distillation plant_ Each of these aspects is considered as well as the type of control strategy to be used. Using a dynamic computer simulation model, two sol ar-dri ven systems are cons i dered : one using flat-plate collectors and a 76'C MEE desalination plant, the other using evacuated tubular collectors and a 95'C MEE plant.

Various combinations of collector area and thermal storage volume are considered, and optimal values determined for each case. For the particular example chosen (1D0m3/day, located at 23$'S) the flat-plate collector system was superior at current prices, giving an overall water cost of $5.82/m' versus $7.34 for the second system. Both these costs are considerably less than water costs from conventional solar stills.