Hybrid solar still as a co-generative system and desalination system - An experimental performance evaluation

Abstract

An experimental evaluation of double basin hybrid solar still has been carried out as co-generative system and desalination system. The upper basin has dual-slope glass cover whereas lower basin has conventional single-slope glass cover. In the experiment of hybrid solar still as co-generative system, mixture of 33% concentrated magnesium chloride and 40% concentrated calcium chloride was flown through upper basin. Whereas in lower basin, the saline water depth of 0.01 ​m was retained with 0.10% w/w concentration of Zinc Oxide nanoparticles. In experiment of hybrid solar still as desalination system, saline water was flown through upper basin and the 0.01 ​m depth of saline water without nanoparticles was sustained in the lower basin. Desorbed water of 1.17 ​L/m2 from the upper basin and distillate of 0.28 ​L/m2 from the lower basin was obtained when hybrid solar still was examined as co-generative system. Whereas distillate yield of 0.63 ​L/m2 and 0.21 ​L/m2 was obtained from the upper and lower basin when hybrid solar still was utilized as desalination system. The experimental results revealed that maximum efficiency of 29.96% was achieved for hybrid solar still as co-generative system and 11.65% as desalination system. The outcome elucidate that an increment of 1.70% in concentration of mixture was achieved for hybrid solar still as co-generative system, which imparts 0.14 ​kW/m2 of latent cooling load.