Energy, exergy, and economic analyses of a modified hemispherical solar distiller augmented with convex absorber basin, wicks, and PCM

Abstract

An innovative designed convex basin is utilized instead of the flat absorber basin to maximize the exposure and vaporization surface areas. Moreover, a jute cloth layer is used over the convex basin as a wicking material for promoting the vaporization rates inside the modified distiller. Additionally, the influences of using phase change material (PCM) thermal storage on the distiller performance was studied on the distiller thermo-economic performance are investigated. Three hemispherical distillers are designed and tested, namely, modified hemispheric distiller with a wick convex absorber basin (MHD-WCAB), modified distiller with a wick convex absorber basin and PCM (MHD-WCAB + PCM), and reference hemispheric distiller (RHD). The performance of three proposed hemispherical stills is performed based on economic, energetic, and exergetic points. The daily distilled product reached 7.95 and 6.90 kg/m2/day for the MHD-WCAB + PCM and MHD-WCAB, respectively, 4.25 kg/m2/day for RHD, achieving 87.06% and 62.35% improvement relative to the RHD. Furthermore, the daily energy efficiency of MHD-WCAB + PCM and MHD-WCAB is evaluated as 46.90% and 34.04%, respectively, representing an improvement rate of 85.67% and 61.74% compared to RHD. The daily exergy efficiency of MHD-WCAB + PCM and MHD-WCAB reached 3.88% and 3.39%, respectively, yielding an augmentation rate of 128.24%, and 99.41% over RHD.