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Performance assessment of single slope solar still by the incorporation of palm flower powder and micro phase change material for the augmentation of productivity

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Abstract

Water scarcity necessitates a cost-effective and productive solution. This study focused to enhance the productivity of single slope solar still by incorporating the better weight of palm flower powder (micro-sized) in the basin and micro phase change material heat storage bed under the basin. In this aspect, the different quantity of palm powder weights such as 10, 30, 50, 70, 100, 120 and 150 g in the basin was experimentally examined. The absorber basin containing 50 g of palm powder has better productivity of 37.25%, whereas for 10, 30, 70, 100, 120 and 150 g, they were 11.85, 24.78, 36.8, 33.05, 10.25 and − 20.22% respectively. The influence of palm powder with different weight% impregnated in the paraffin wax was analysed. The maximum thermal conductivity of 0.33 W/m K was obtained in the sample containing palm flower powder of 20 wt%. The experimental investigation was carried out with 50 g of micro-sized palm powder in the basin and thermal storage bed under the basin containing 20 wt% of micro phase change material (PCMPFP-SS) and conventional solar still (CSS). The overall distillate output of PCMPFP-SS was 4670 and 4250 mL/m2 on day 1 and day 2 respectively. On the other hand, the overall distillate output for CSS was 3030 and 2800 mL/m2 on day 1 and day 2. From the economic analysis, it was found that the cost per litre (CPL) of PCMPFP-SS and CSS was $ 0.025 and $ 0.032 respectively. Moreover, the payback period of PCMPFP-SS was lowered from 5.1 to 4.1 months compared to CSS.

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Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

U eq :

Uncertainty of instruments

A eq :

Accuracy of instruments

D f :

Output yield—final

D i :

Output yield—initial

\({u}_{d_w}\) :

Uncertainty value in yield

α w :

Absorptivity value of saline water

τ w :

Transmissivity value of water

α b :

Absorptivity value of the basin

τ g :

Transmissivity value of glass

α g :

Absorptivity value of glass

m w :

Mass value of water (kg)

m b :

Mass value of basin (kg)

m g :

Mass value of glass cover (kg)

C pw :

Specific heat value of water in basin (kJ/kg/K)

C pb :

Specific heat value of basin (kJ/kg/K)

C pg :

Specific heat value of glass cover (kJ/kg/K)

C pv :

Specific heat value—mixture of vapour (kJ/kg/K)

K v :

Thermal conductivity value—mixture of vapour (W/m/K)

d :

The gap between the inner glass and water in the basin (m)

g :

Gravitational constant (m/s2)

β :

Coefficient of volume expansion (K−1)

dt :

The temperature difference between the inside glass cover and saline water in the basin

ρ :

Density value (kg/m3)

μ :

Viscosity (dynamic) value (N s/m2)

A w :

The surface area of saline water (m2)

A b :

The surface area of the basin (m2)

A g :

The surface area of glass (m2)

h c :

Convective heat transfer coefficient of water in basin (W/m2/K1)

h t, in :

Cumulative-convective heat transfer coefficient inside the still (W/m2/K)

h r, in :

Solar still inside—radiative heat transfer coefficient (W/m2/K)

h e, in :

Solar still inside—evaporative heat transfer coefficient (W/m2/K)

h t, out :

Cumulative ambient convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2/K)

h c, in :

Inside solar still—convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2/K)

h c, out :

Outside solar still—convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2/K)

h r, out :

Outside solar still—radiative heat transfer coefficient (W/m2/K)

U b :

Overall heat transfer coefficient of the basin (W/m2/K)

T w :

The temperature of water at the basin (°C)

T g :

Glass cover temperature (°C)

T b :

Basin temperature (°C)

T a :

Surrounding temperature (°C)

T s :

Air space temperature (°C)

P w :

Local pressure of water (N/m2)

P g :

Local pressure of glass cover (N/m2)

ε eff :

Effective emissivity

ε g :

The emissivity of the glass cover

ε w :

The emissivity of water in the basin

σ :

The Stefan-Boltzmann constant value (5.67 × 10−8 W/m2/K4)

Q e, in :

Inside—heat transfer (W)

L w :

Latent heat of vaporisation of water in basin (kJ/kg)

P w :

The hourly yield of distilled water (kg)

P t :

The total yield of distilled water on a day (kg)

η ins :

Instantaneous thermal efficiency of solar still

η passive :

Cumulative solar still efficiency

I :

Insolation (W/m2)

A b :

The surface area of the basin (m2)

PCMPFP-SS:

Palm flower powder and mPCM bed in the solar still

CSS:

Conventional solar still

mL/m2 :

Millilitre per square meter

W/m2 :

Watt per square metre

W/m/K:

Watt per metre Kelvin

°C:

Degree Celsius

M:

Metre

m2 :

Per square metre

mm:

Millimetre

W:

Watt

cm:

Centimetre

mL:

Millilitre

kJ/kg/K:

Kilojoule per kilogram Kelvin

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore for the preparation and testing of samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Solar Energy Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Puducherry, Karaikal, India

    Arivazhagan Sampathkumar & Sendhil Kumar Natarajan

Authors
  1. Arivazhagan Sampathkumar
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  2. Sendhil Kumar Natarajan
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Contributions

Arivazhagan Sampathkumar: conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing – original draft. Sendhil Kumar Natarajan: conceptualization, validation, resources, writing - review & editing, supervision, and project administration.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sendhil Kumar Natarajan.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Highlights

• The higher productivity was obtained at 50 g of palm flower powder.

• The better weight% of palm flower powder in the paraffin wax was 20 wt%.

• The value of thermal conductivity for micro phase change material (mPCM) was 57.14% higher than PCM without microparticles.

• The increment in productivity of PCMPFP-SS was 54.12 and 51.78% on days 1 and 2.

• The cost per litre of PCMPFP-SS was lowered by 33.33% relative to CSS.

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Sampathkumar, A., Natarajan, S.K. Performance assessment of single slope solar still by the incorporation of palm flower powder and micro phase change material for the augmentation of productivity. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 73957–73975 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21039-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21039-7

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