Evaluating the Performance of a Solar Distillation Technology in the Desalination of Brackish Waters

Abstract

Desalination is set to become a major source of drinking water in several Middle Eastern countries over the coming decades. Solar distillation is a simple power-independent method of water desalination, which can be carried out in active or passive modes. This study is among the first attempts to investigate the possibility of desalinating brackish groundwater resources under the threat of saltwater intrusion in the southern areas of Razavi Khorasan province in Iran. For this purpose, a pilot solar distillation unit was constructed to analyze the effects of the unit orientation, depth of the water pool, atmospheric conditions, input salinity, and flow continuity on the solar distillation performance. The results showed that the unit exhibited the highest efficiency when it had a 3 cm deep water pool. It was oriented facing southward while operating a continuous flow for at least 3 days under sunny weather conditions. It was found that among the studied parameters, the unit orientation and pool depth had the greatest impact on the water production performance for this type of water desalination system. Conversely, the water production efficiency was not very sensitive to the input salinity level. Overall, the solar distillation technology was able to reduce the salinity by 99.7% and the hardness by 94.7%.

Enhancing Water Purification in Solar Stills Through Incorporation of Renewable Energy Technology: An Experimental Study on the Efficiency and Cooling Mechanisms - A Review

“…Oriented south during continuous flow operation for at least 3 days in sunny weather. Research indicates that unit orientation and pool depth have the biggest influence on water production performance [12]. Active solar stills supplement distillation with mechanical and external energy sources, whereas passive stills employ natural processes.…”

Prediction and Optimization of Heat Transfer Performance of Premixed Methane Impinging Flame Jet Using the Kriging Model and Genetic Algorithm

“…Numerical simulation has become an indispensable part of today's engineering. It provides a powerful tool that enables engineers to evaluate and analyze various engineering systems and processes more quickly and effectively [31,32]. CFD is commonly utilized to optimize the design and operating parameters of practical engineering problems [33][34][35].…”

Editorial for Special Issue on “Intelligent Technologies and Processes for Advanced Nuclear Power and Energy Engineering”

“…From April 2022 to February 2023, we received 24 submissions for this Special Issue. After a comprehensive review process for each submission, 13 papers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] were accepted for publication in this journal (i.e., the acceptance rate of this Special Issue was 54%).…”

“…Using extensive simulations, the voltage-stabilizing circuit model was analyzed and tested. Shakerian et al [9] studied a solar distillation technology for the assessment of desalinating brackish groundwater resources under threat of saltwater intrusion in Iran. Zhao et al [10] studied the stability of the path-tracking control and fuel economy of new energy vehicles.…”