Jute Cloth Research Articles

Experimental investigation of convex tubular solar still performance using wick and nanocomposites

In this work, the performance of tubular solar still (TSS) was aimed to be improved experimentally. Increasing the surface area inside the solar still is a main parameter of its performance. So, a new-designed convex absorber was used for the first time instead of the flat plate absorber to increase the vaporization and exposure surface areas inside the solar still. The TSS with a convex absorber was nominated as convex tubular solar still (CVTSS). In addition, for further improvement of CVTSS performance, two different types of wick materials (jute cloth and cotton wick) were investigated. Moreover, the effect of using TiO2 and graphene nanocomposites on the CVTSS performance was studied. Experimental results obtained that using the convex absorber increased the vaporization surface area by around 21.3%. So, the water distillate of the CVTSS was greater than that of the TSS under all investigated conditions. Besides, using the jute cloth with the CVTSS improved the daily distillate by 114% and 92.5% with and without nanocomposites, respectively. The highest daily productivity of CVTSS was obtained when using jute cloth with nanocomposites, where it was 9000 mL/m2.day versus 4200 mL/m2.day for TSS. Additionally, the average daily thermal efficiency of TSS and CVTSS with jute cloth and nanocomposites was 33% and 50%, respectively. Finally, the proposed design is helpful in enhancing the performance of solar still without any extra horizontal spaces or components.

Enhancing the solar still performance via rotating wick belt and quantum dots nanofluid

Two designs of rotating wick solar stills are investigated under the same operating conditions. The first design is a called L-RWSS, where the wick belt of black jute cloth is designed to be rotated inside the solar still in a path of an “L” character. The second design is called LC-RWSS, where the wick belt is designed to be rotated in a path of an “L” character with a chamfer at the bottom end. The rotation of the wick belt is under ON time of 5 min and different OFF times (zero, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 min). In addition, the effect of using quantum dots nanofluid on the performance of LC-RWSS is studied. Results revealed that the optimum thermal performance of LC-RWSS is obtained at 30 min OFF time either with or without nanofluid. Besides, the total accumulated daily productivity of LC-RWSS is higher than that of L-RWSS by 19% and 17% with and without nanofluid, respectively. The productivity of L-RWSS and LC-RWSS reached 8200 and 9600 mL/m2.day, respectively. The thermal efficiency of LC-RWSS is 88 and 86% with and without nanofluid respectively compared to 82% for L-RWSS under 30 min OFF time. Moreover, the cost of distilled water from LC-RWSS and L-RWSS is 0.019 and 0.022 $/L, respectively.

Augmenting the productivity of stepped distiller by corrugated and curved liners, CuO/paraffin wax, wick, and vapor suctioning.

This paper aimed to improve the thermal performance of the stepped solar still. So, the effects of using different types of basin liners (corrugated and curved basin liners), jute cloth wick, CuO/paraffin wax, and vapor suction on the stepped solar still performance were investigated. The CuO/paraffin wax was placed into a groove parallel to the basin steps' liner. Also, the stepped distiller was integrated with an external condensation unit. The experimental results revealed that using the corrugated and curved liners increased the productivity of the modified stepped solar still (MSSS) by 42% and 33%, respectively. In addition, using the corrugated liner with wick, corrugated liner with wick and CuO/paraffin wax, corrugated liner with wick, CuO/paraffin wax, and vapor suction improved the freshwater productivity of the distiller by 95%, 127%, and 170%, respectively. At the last studied case (MSSS with corrugated liner, wick, CuO/paraffin wax, and vapor suction), the daily freshwater productivities of the MSSS and conventional still (CSS) were 7000 and 2600 mL/m2·day, respectively. Also, the thermal efficiency of MSSS was calculated as 59% which was obtained at the last studied case. And the efficiency of the CSS was 35%. Besides, the distilled water cost of CSS and MSSS with corrugated liner with wick, CuO/paraffin wax, and vapor suction was 0.023 and 0.014 $/L, respectively.

Performance Test and Stability Analysis of Jute Ecological Bag on Subgrade Slope

Ecological bags have been gradually adopted for ecological protection on the subgrade slope because of their good soil fixation effect, strong water retention performance, fast construction and other advantages. Ecological bags made of natural jute have obvious attributes in environmental protection and economic efficiency. In this study, the tensile and the tearing strength of the common-used jute cloth have been tested. The result shows that the strength meet the requirements of the standards. Compared with current frequently-used ecological bag made of non-woven cloth, the jute ecological bag has large apertures, which is suitable for the growth of dicotyledon plants. Moreover, its high friction coefficient with the soil is beneficial to the structure stability on the slope. On the other hand, a stability evaluation method has been established for the jute ecological bags on the subgrade slope under natural and heavy rainfall conditions. Then the steel wire mesh fixed by the anchor rods is used to enhance the stability of the jute ecological bags, which constitute the ecological protection system for the subgrade slope. Also, the stability of the protection system is analyzed and calculated.

Performance Analysis of Solar Stills with Different Absorbing Materials

Water is the fundamental need of humanity. The consumption of water is rising with each day. The major parts of the available water, i.e. 97%, are saline seawater and 2% is ice and glaze. Just 1% of the water is pure drinking water. Therefore in order to satisfy the demand for fresh water, it is important to turn the impurity of salty sea water or brackish water into pure water. The Solar Single Slope Single Basin (SSSB) is not being experimentally investigated. The experimentation was performed during the months of May and June 2020 under Indian climatic conditions. The efficiency of still cotton cloth with marbles and jute cloth with marbles is 50.00 per cent and 46.15 per cent respectively, higher than average.

Enhancing the solar still performance using reflectors and sliding-wick belt

This work presents a performance investigation of the rotating wick solar still (RWSS) under different operational and designable conditions. A black jute cloth belt was rotated vertically and horizontally inside the distiller. The effect of the sliding direction (clockwise and counter clockwise) of the wick belt on the performance of RWSS was studied. The performance of the RWSS was studied at various belt sliding speeds of 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 min−1. In addition, mirrors were utilized externally and internally with RWSS to aid in concentrating more solar energy onto the system. A solar photovoltaic powered DC motor was used to rotate the belt. It was found that the freshwater distillate of the RWSS was higher than that obtained from the conventional distiller. The optimum performance of RWSS was obtained at 0.05 min−1 and under up-down sliding direction. In addition, the freshwater productivity of RWSS was higher than that of the conventional solar still (CSS) by 300% and 260% with and without reflectors, respectively. The thermal efficiency was 82% and 35% for RWSS and CSS, respectively.

Influence of wick pile of jute cloth on distillate yield of double-basin single-slope solar still: Theoretical and experimental study

Two similar double-basin single-slope solar stills were constructed, one with the wick pile of jute cloth and the other without wick pile. The experiment was organized with the brackish water depths of 10 mm in lower basin and 2700 ml brackish water quantity in upper basin and executed at location (20.61°N, 72.91°E), India for consecutive three days in season of summer. The theoretical model was evolved for double-basin single-slope solar still with the wick pile of jute cloth and without. The dedicated theoretical model to study transient analysis for still with wick pile of jute cloth was evolved, which includes influence of wick pile of jute cloth using fundamentals of heat transfer and effect of porosity. The developed model was solved using analytical method and outcomes were compared with experimental outcomes. Compared to the still without wick pile, 1.93%, 21.12% and 23.71% higher yield was achieved for still with wick pile of jute cloth on 6th, 7th and 8th April respectively. Whereas compared to still without wick pile, 8.89%, 28.90% and 29.37% higher efficiency was obtained for still with wick pile on respective days.

Performance evaluation of square pyramid solar still with various vertical wick materials – An experimental approach

The demand for fresh water is increasing rapidly, but its supply has been typically decreasing over the past decades. The scarcity of drinking water can be resolved through the desalination of seawater. The present study deals with analysing the performance of a square pyramid solar still (SPSS) in the presence of various vertical wick materials by experimentally. To increase the distillate productivity of the conventional SPSS, various types of wick materials were placed vertically in the water basin. Initially, the experiments were conducted for different basin water depths (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 cm) to calculate the effective basin water depth. The results indicated that the water depth was 2 cm, which provided 14.4%, 23.1%, 31.3%, and 39.6% higher productivity than 3, 4, 5, and 6 cm basin water depths, respectively. In addition, experiments were conducted for various wick materials, like polyester, terry cotton, jute cloth, and woollen fabric, to enhance SPSS productivity at 2 cm basin water depth. The evaporation rate increased due to the capillary action of the wick material. The experimental results proved that the SPSS productivity was 9.4%, 20.9%, and 33.1% higher by using woollen fabrics than of jute, terry cotton and polyester, respectively.

Variable air gap membrane distillation for hybrid solar desalination

While a low temperature solar still for water production is simple in design, the accompanying productivity is quite low. This factor has necessitated development of enhancement techniques for water production. Alternatives suggested are the use of porous media in a solar still such as sponge, blackened jute cloth, pebble pieces, and floating carbonaceous material for absorbing solar energy. The use of a hydrophobic porous membrane in a solar still has not been investigated systematically thus far. The formation of a convex liquid meniscus alters vapor pressure across the pores of the membrane and is the origin of increased evaporation rates. The goal of the present study is to examine the performance of a solar still configuration towards water production in the presence of a surface-mounted hydrophobic membrane. Vertical arrangement is possible in a prototype but is inconvenient to setup in a laboratory-scale experiment. Hence, the device is compared with another without a membrane in a horizontal solar still configuration. Variable air gap is necessary to drain the condensed drop from an inclined condensing surface. The air gap membrane distillation system (AGMD) thus configured is selected for investigation and further comparison with a mathematical model. Experiments carried out in the present work show that a 40–70% increase in water production is obtained with the use of a membrane. The increase in evaporation rate is visible in the dropwise condensation patterns over the condensing surface. The present study thus confirms the utility of using a hydrophobic membrane in increasing water productivity of a solar still apparatus. Exergy analysis of the solar still when a chiller is used for the condensing surface is also presented.

Effect of Absorbing Material on the performance of solar still: A mini review

The current review analysis deals with the study of behavior of different absorbing materials on the overall performance of solar still. Several different absorbing materials like Colored Dyes (e.g. Black napthylamine, Red carmoisine and Dark green), rubber matt, ink, black gravel, mica plates, charcoal, Aluminum sheets, sponge cubes, cement, jute cloth, cow dunk, paraffin wax, Metallic Wiry Sponge (Uncoated), Metallic Wiry Sponge (coated), Black Volcanic Rock, Marble pieces, sandstones, sodium acetate (CH3COONa), potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) and Magnesium Sulphate Hepta Hydrate (MgSO4 7H2O) are reviewed. The trend in the productivity, performance and distillate outputs are identified. The brief description of the effect on every individual absorbing material is examined and described. The effect of absorbing materials like CH3COONa, K2Cr2O7 and MgSO4 7H2O on the temperature related parameters are evaluated and described. The amalgamation of mini review on different absorbing materials will help in the selection of material based on the availability, environmental conditions and applications.

Geotechnical Characterization of Silty Clay Reinforced with Jute Cloth as Waster Product

Geotechnical Characterization of Silty Clay Reinforced with Jute Cloth as Waster Product

Rotating-wick solar still with mended evaporation technics: Experimental approach

The performance of the rotating wick solar still is investigated under different operating and designable conditions. A black jute cloth belt is rotated vertically and horizontally inside the distiller. The wick belt is rotated under constant ON time of 5 min and different OFF times (zero, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 min). A DC motor (6 W) powered by a small photovoltaic (PV) system is used to rotate the belt. Besides, the effect of using nanofluid on the performance of the rotating wick still is also studied. Results showed that the best performance of the rotating wick still is obtained at 30 min OFF time either with or without nanofluid. In addition, the total accumulated productivity of the rotating wick solar still was greater than that of the conventional distiller by 315 and 300% with and without nanofluid, respectively. The efficiency of the rotating wick distiller is 84 and 82% under 30 min OFF time with and without nanofluid, respectively. The costs of one distillate liter for conventional and rotating wick solar stills without nanofluid are 0.05 and 0.027$, respectively.

PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT OF SOLAR STILL BY USING REFLECTORS-JUTE CLOTH-IMPROVED GLASS ANGLE

This paper is aimed to improve the productivity of an existing conventional single slope solar still with modifications. In this study, the conventional solar still is modified by using reflectors, jute cloth and improved glass angle. The modified still productivity and performance are investigated experimentally and compared to that of conventional solar still. The results demonstrated that solar still performance is improved with the 10o glass angle due to better water flow properties and higher solar radiation fall on the still. The results reveal that, with all combined modifications, the water productivity and efficiency of modified solar still increase by 72.18% and 41.51% respectively more than the conventional one. This implies that modified solar still could be adopted for higher water productivity at a lower additional cost.

Theoretical and experimental performance evaluation of single-slope single-basin solar still with multiple V-shaped floating wicks

A solar still is used to convert saline water into potable water by means of the distillation process. In order to improve the productivity of conventional solar still, various modifications are implemented by researchers. In the present study, multiple V-shaped floating wicks are used to enhance heat absorption and thereby increase productivity. The experiments are performed during the summer and winter seasons in Rewa, India (Latitude: 24.5373° N; Longitude: 81.3042° E). These multiple floating wicks are made from black jute cloth wrapped in V-shaped pieces of thermocol. Because of their V-shaped profile, the evaporative surface area of modified solar still is 26% larger than that of conventional solar still. The maximum daily productivity in one of the clear days is found to be approximately 6.20 kg/m2 in summer and 3.23 kg/m2 in winter with daily efficiencies of 56.62% and 47.75%, respectively. A theoretical thermal model is formulated by using the energy balance equations of the modified solar still. Reasonable agreement was seen between the theoretical and experimental results of modified solar still. An economic analysis is also performed for the modified solar still and conventional solar still; in a 10-year life cycle, the annual cost of distilled water is estimated at Rs. 1.81/kg for the former and Rs. 2.24/kg for the latter.

Performance of single-slope double-basin solar stills with small pile of wick materials

The performance of single-slope double-basin solar stills was evaluated with the use of small pile of wick materials in lower basin of stills. For the study, two similar single-slope double-basin solar stills were developed with the small pile of two different wick materials namely jute cloth and black cotton cloth. The experiments were conducted for the two different water depths such as 0.01 m and 0.02 m in lower basin under the environmental situation of Valsad, Gujarat (20.61°N, 72.91°E) India. From the results of experiments, the enhancement of 18.03% and 21.46% in yield was obtained at 0.01 m and 0.02 m water depth for the still with small pile of jute cloth compared to the still with small pile of black cotton cloth. From the experiment, it has been observed that the still with small pile of jute cloth achieved the overall higher productivity compared to the still with small pile of black cotton cloth.

Augmenting the productivity of solar still using jute cloth knitted with sand heat energy storage

The best methods in improving the fresh water yield from the solar still is incorporating sensible heat energy storage materials. This paper presents the improvement in fresh water and thermal from the conventional basin solar still using sensible heat energy storage knitted with jute cloth wrapped over the entire surface of the material under different water mass. Experimental investigations were carried out in the single slope solar still with and without jute cloth knitted with the material and for validation of results the solar still without any material is tested for the same experimental condition. Results show that the yield of fresh water is completely depends on the parameters such as mass of sensible energy material and depth of water kept in the basin. The yield of fresh water under least water mass (mw = 20 kg) from the solar still with and without jute cloth knitted with sensible heat storage material were found as 5.9 and 5 kg/m2, respectively.

Application Of Jute Cloth (Natural Fibre) To Enhance The Distillate Output In Solar Distillation System

This paper presents a new approach to improve the distillate output of a solar still by the application of blackened jute cloth attached with vertical backside wall and inclined basin liner in the basin box of solar still. Jute cloth provides the large evaporation surface area and utilizes the latent heat of condensation. It is very cheap and easily available in the local market. An experimental work conducted in Rewa, M.P., (Latitude: 24°33' 20.81'' N, Longitude: 81°18' 49.1'' E), in order to evaluate and compare the operational parameters of single sloped single basin solar still with jute cloth surface (modified still) and without jute cloth surface (conventional still). It is found that the cumulative distillate output of a modified solar still is approximately 62% higher than the conventional solar still.

Compare the Experimental Performance of V-shaped Black Cotton and Jute Cloth Floating Wicks Solar Stills in Indian Climatic Condition

Compare the Experimental Performance of V-shaped Black Cotton and Jute Cloth Floating Wicks Solar Stills in Indian Climatic Condition

Design and Development of Manually Operated Sapota Cleaner

Cleaning of sapota is an important unit operation after harvesting. Harvested fruits are presently cleaned by manually rubbing with cloth. A manually operated sapota cleaner was designed and developed to reduce human drudgery. The cleaner was tested at 60, 65 and 70 rpm, and its batch capacity varied from 15 to 45 kg. The drum with jute cloth inner lining had cleaning efficiency of 99.95 % at 70 rpm rotational speed and 20 kg sapota batch load. At drum speed of 60 rpm and 20 or 30 kg of sapota load, no damage of fruit was observed. The cleaner gave best performance at 70 rpm drum speed, 20 kg feed /batch, giving 99.95 % cleaning efficiency and 2.04 % fruit damage. The cost of the cleaner was ` 7000, with cost saving of ` 0.30/kg sapota as compared to traditional cleaning method.

Comparative performance evaluation of single-slope and pyramid-shaped solar stills: experimental evaluation

ABSTRACTIn the present research paper, experimental analysis is based on the fresh water output rate due to different structural arrangements of two different stills. In the performance evolution, the operational parameters such as water temperature, ambient temperature, inner glass temperature, and productivity have been predicted. A comparative performance between two different solar stills was carried out to evaluate the distillation and effective parameters under the same climatic conditions for several days with different depths of water (2.5 and 3.5 cm) and also to provide a large evaporation surface and utilise the latent heat of condensation using jute cloth. The experimental results show that efficiencies of these solar stills confirm that the fresh distilled water output of the pyramid-shaped solar still is higher than that of the single-slope solar still under different effective parameters.