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Solar Distiller
Basin Solar Distiller With a Water-Cooled Condenser Outside
412
From: Solar Energy Desalination Technology, 2017

Chapters and Articles

Active Solar Distiller

Hongfei Zheng, in Solar Energy Desalination Technology, 2017

5.4 The Basin-Type Solar Still With Active Outer

Condenser
For a traditional basin solar distiller, water vapor condensation on the
glass cover plate is the heat and mass transfer of natural convection
process, which limits the improvement of system performance. To
enhance the process of water vapor evaporation and condensation,
Mohamad et al. [11] came up with an active design with an external
condenser as Fig. 5.11 shows.

Figure 5.11. Schematic diagram of the basin-type solar still with an

active outer condenser.

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General Problems in Seawater

Desalination
Hongfei Zheng, in Solar Energy Desalination Technology, 2017

1.3.1.4 Solar Distillation

The principle is to do the desalination by solar radiant heat. The
simplest solar distiller is illustrated in Fig. 1.4. To increase the heat
absorption efficiency, the seawater batholith needs to be painted in
black, so that the vapor can be condensed into freshwater on glass

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panels or plastic films with high solar transmittance. As the oldest
desalination method, solar distillation has its advantages of low
operating cost and simple device, but the disadvantages are that device
space occupancy is large, yield per unit is low, and the thermal
property can be influenced by different areas and climate conditions.
At present, freshwater production per day by a simple device is only 3–
4 kg/(m2 d).

Figure 1.4. Solar distillation diagram.

With no limitation to the initial concentration and high fresh water
purity, solar distillation is well suited for the water-deficient areas with
high temperature and long sunshine time. Fresh water can also be
obtained by a similar device in areas where the heat source or available
waste heat is sufficient.

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Humidification–Dehumidification Solar
Desalination Systems
Hongfei Zheng, in Solar Energy Desalination Technology, 2017

6.11.1 Tower Type Air Humidification–

Dehumidification Solar Distiller
As we know, the humidity ratio of saturation air changes remarkably
with its temperature. A saturation air humidification–dehumidification
type solar distiller is designed just by using this performance of
saturation air. It forces the air through the desalination system to
undergo the humidification and dehumidification processes,
respectively, thereby to achieve freshwater from seawater.

The saturation air humidification–dehumidification type solar distiller

consists of three parts: solar collector, evaporator, and condenser. For
improving the efficiency, some systems add an air preheater and the
heat exchanger between cold and hot seawater. Figs. 6.70 and 6.71
show two tower solar distillers according to air humidification–
dehumidification processes.

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Economic and environmental aspects

of solar desalination with energy
storage
Mohamed S. Yousef, Hamdy Hassan, in
Energy Storage for Multigeneration, 2023

3.1 Thermal energy storage technologies

Water shortage is increasing day by day, particularly in developing
countries with low per capita income. This scarcity comes as a result of
uncontrolled population increase, inadequate water resource
management, and untreated industrial waste discharge. As a result, not
only is the issue of freshwater production important, but so is its
affordability in resolving the crisis. As a result, cost analysis is critical in
both home and industrial freshwater production using the sun
desalination method. Generally, increasing the rate of water production
and reducing the costs of water distilled in solar stills are the most
important engineering principles in solar stills.

The economic analysis of solar desalination systems is performed as

follows (Abo-Elfadl et al., 2020):

The first annual cost (FAC) of the solar distiller system is determined as
(Abo-Elfadl et al., 2020):

FAC = CRF × 𝑃𝑠 (1)

where CRF is the capital recovery factor which is computed from (Abo-

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Solar thermal feed preheating

techniques integrated with membrane
distillation for seawater desalination
applications: Recent advances,
retrofitting performance improvement
strategies, and future perspectives
S.A. El-Agouz, ... Khaled Khodary Ismaeil, in
Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 2022

2.6 Solar distillers

Solar distillers (SD) are one of the most straightforward and cost-
effective methods for extracting freshwater from contaminated or
salted water (Bait and Si-Ameur, 2017; Kabeel et al., 2022). The
saltwater is heated inside the SD by harvesting solar radiation falling
on the SD basin. As a result, the saline water is evaporated by rising
saltwater temperature. Then, the air in the SD carries the distilled
vapor to the glass coverage, where the vapor is collected and
condensed in a tilted trough. The critical demerit of the SD is its low
freshwater productivity. Numerous designs of solar distillers and

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diversified improved vaporization techniques have been conducted to
ameliorate the performance of SDs; such as the use of reflectors
(AbuShanab et al., 2022), the suction of vapor from the basin (Essa et
al., 2020), the inclusion of nanofluids in the basin water (Bait, 2020),

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Designs and performance analysis of

vertical multi-effect diffusion solar
distiller: A review
Byung-Ju Lim Ph.D., ... Chang-Dae Park Ph.D., in Desalination,
2022

5.2 VMED with a solar collector

The classical VMED directly absorbs the solar radiation through the
first plate, therefore it is generally installed in a slanting manner to
improve performance. If the external solar collector absorbs solar
energy and transfers it to the first plate, The VMED can be installed
vertically. Lim et al. [30] stated that the classical VMED had limitations
with respect to the inclination angle due to plate warpage and the
contamination of distillate on the condensation surface. However, the
installation angle of the solar collector can be decreased to receive the
maximum solar energy. Besides, because only the area of the collector
can be changed separately, the amount of solar energy is adjusted
without changing the plate size.

In 1961, Dunkle [35] focused on developing a theoretical model of

VMED presented by Mária Telkes [17] in 1959 and experimentally
validating the model. The author designed a small 5-effect VMED with
a solar absorber (Fig. 13) and operated it for seven months using an
electric heater. The results showed that the distillation rate increased
with a decrease in d, and using H2 gas as the diluent gas is better than

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Key pathways for efficient solar

thermal desalination
Jiahang Huang, ... Hui Kong, in
Energy Conversion and Management, 2024

2.3 Reasons for the high cost and low efficiency

of traditional solar desalination
The solar distiller is a highly traditional facility for solar-powered
desalination, which relies entirely on sunlight for operation and does
not require any additional power. This type of device enjoys extensive
usage owing to its straightforward construction, and it can be easily
constructed, operated, and maintained. The drawbacks lie in its low
water yield and the need for a large construction area. Seeking to tackle

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the drawbacks of conventional solar desalination devices, several types
of solar desalination apparatus have been created, such as active solar
distillers, and solar air HDH desalination systems. However, the core
problem of current solar desalination systems is still that the efficiency
falls short and the cost of produced water comes at an exorbitant price.
A comprehensive analysis shows that these traditional systems mainly
contain too many processes or links, each of which causes energy loss
or reduction in energy quality. Traditional solar desalination systems
specifically contain three serious flaws:

(1) The components of the system are significantly isolated: collectors,

storage heaters piping and heat exchangers as well as

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Techniques used to maintain minimum

water depth of solar stills for water
desalination–A comparative review
A.S. Abdullah, ... Z.M. Omara, in Results in Engineering, 2023

2 The fundamental workings of a solar still

A fundamental solar distiller is comprised of a tank with a small depth
of saline-water in the black-painted basin, a glass cover with an angle,
a trough for gathering freshwater, insulation on every side but the
glass, a drain valve for cleaning the basin of SS, and an intake for
contaminated water, as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. A graph of simple SS.

The tank is filled by sunlight passing through its clear glass lid; the
saline water inside the tank is heated by convection from the basin,

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A thermodynamic review on solar stills

Abhishek Saxena, ... Varun Goel, in Solar Energy, 2022

8.1 Advantages
A typical size solar distiller can produce 06 L/day during the summer
and 03 L/day during the winter. It takes about 10 square feet. The main

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advantages of the system are; (i) free fuel operation (in sunshine hours
it discards about 500 W electricity consumption/hour of sunlight), (ii)
high reliability and low maintenance due to nonavailability of moving
parts, (iii) obtained water taste is better because solar still acts like a
water vaporizer, (iv) obtaining pH value is neutral, (v) small size stills
are movable and transportable due to flexibility of roller coasters and
(vi) very useful in remote areas or hilly sunny areas.

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Energy matrices and efficiency analyses

of solar distiller units: A review
Ashok Kumar Singh, ... Navneet Kumar, in Solar Energy, 2018

3.2 Energy Production Factor (EPF)

Energy production factor of any SDU represents the overall
performance of the system. EPF is the reverse of EPT and the ideal value
of EPF is represented by one on the basis of annual evaluation of
performance for that system. The standing achievement of SDUs is
represented by EPF and it corresponds for a system, as higher as the
EPF value as better as the solar distillation system will be. EPF
according to energy and exergy of SDUs can be evaluated by using Eqs.
(4) and (5). Tiwari and Mishra (2012) represents EPF for active SDU as:

(a) Annual based

EPF(𝑒) =
𝑂𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡𝐸out (4)
𝐸𝑚𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦𝐸in

EPT(𝑒𝑥) =
𝐺(𝑒𝑥, 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙) (5)
𝐸in

(b) Life time basis

EPF(𝑒) =
𝐸out × 𝑛 (6)
𝐸in

The annual exergy gain (𝐺ex, 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 ) for A-SDU can be evaluated by using
Eq. (7) as given:

𝐺ex, 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 = Exout + Pm - Pu (7)

where annual thermal exergy output is given by Exout and Pm - Pu is the

net electrical energy output from PVT.

The hourly yield (𝑚̇ ew ) and daily yield (𝑀̇ ew ) for flat plate active solar
cell is given by following equation:

𝑚̇ ew =
𝐴𝑠 ℎew (𝑇𝑤 - 𝑇gi ) × 3600 (8)
𝐿

𝑀̇ ew = ∑24 (9)
𝑖=1𝑚
̇ ew

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Related terms:
Energy Engineering, Solar Energy, Thermoelectrics, Solar Radiation,

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Solar Furnace, Heat Pump, Solar Collector, Solar Still, Solar Distillation,

Polycarbonate.

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