Exergo-Economic Evaluation of the Cost for Solar Thermal Depuration of Water

Nicola Dainelli,Giampaolo Manfrida,Karolina Petela,Federico Rossi

doi:10.3390/en10091395

Nicola Dainelli, Giampaolo Manfrida + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en10091395

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Abstract

A detailed assessment of the cumulative cost of clean water production by a natural circulation solar thermal system is presented. The system is designed and sized for sufficient residence time for pasteurisation, in a buoyancy-driven self-compensating circuit. Since it does not consume electricity, it is suitable for developing countries or emergency locations with safe drinking water issues. The principles for design and off-design simulations are explained and discussed. The simulations were performed for seven different locations, representing variable climate conditions in selected regions where there is an evident need for safe water. The results include an exergy and exergo-economic analysis. The production capacity reaches typically from 0.04 to 0.1 m3/day per m2 of solar collector depending on the location. The annual cost of water production ranges between 2.2 and 6.8 €/m3 making the proposed system fairly competitive; the energy- and price-performance of the system is compared to a reverse osmosis/photovoltaic system, representing a high-tech alternative for the purpose of water purification.

Highlights

Migrations, peace and development are some of the most important problems that the global society has to solve in the future, but there are many discussions about how we can do that: these arguments have been analysed by many organizations and the World Economic Forum (WEC) [1] is one of the most important
The output exergy of the natural circulation water depuration system is the exergy of purified water, while the input is the exergy of solar radiation which drives the whole process
2017, 10, ofof up, the solar collector exergy loss is increasing while the solar collector exergy destruction decreases

Summary

Introduction

Migrations, peace and development are some of the most important problems that the global society has to solve in the future, but there are many discussions about how we can do that: these arguments have been analysed by many organizations and the World Economic Forum (WEC) [1] is one of the most important. According to the WEC meeting report, water crises are considered as one of the main problems in the world, since the migration of millions of people is involved, with relevant issues in terms of health and possible deaths. RO is effective on several contaminants, from hydrocarbons to heavy metals and bacteria but there are many problems due to biofouling of membranes and to the integrity loss after chemical attacks (for example by NH3 )

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