Presentation on Case Study

A study on Solar Distillation system and

design proposal of a self-sustain water
purifying system.

Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology.

Dept. of ME.

Presented by:
Md. Tanvir Rahman (132072) Course Adviser:
Lailatul Nehar (132074) Prof. Dr. Md. Rafiqul Alam Beg.

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology
 At a glance
Introduction
Objectives
Solar energy & water purification
Why use solar for water purification
Solar distillation system
Types of solar distillation system
Types of solar still
Literature Review
Proposed Design of solar still
Benefits of the proposed design
Expected outcome
Summery

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 Introduction
Pollution of water & water crisis are co-related. Around half of all ocean pollution is caused by
sewage and waste water. Each year, the world generates perhaps 510 billion tons of industrial
waste, much of which is pumped untreated into rivers, oceans, and other waterways.

Fig. : Pollution of sea water by industrial and human wastes

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Water covers 70% of our planet but Only 3% of the worlds water is fresh water. Water pollution
combined with drought and earths environmental changes cause water scarcity. As a result,
some 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and a total of 2.7 billion find water
scarce for at least one month of the year. 1.4 million die every year for water pollution.

Fig.: Only 7 litters of water for 8 days per person recorded in 2015.

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Modern techniques of water purification use fancy filtering systems and consumes much energy
that is about 3-4% of nations electricity. The national average of electricity consumption for
conventional surface water plant is 700 to 1800 kWh per million gallon of water treated (Ref-2)

Fig.: High energy consuming water treatment plant & chart showing details about % energy consumption at each stage.
(Ref. No.-2)

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 Objectives
To study about solar assisted water purifying techniques.
To study about solar distillation system.
To study and review about various solar still designs.
To design & modify a self sustain solar distillation system
for more productivity.

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 Solar Energy and Water Purification
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of ever-
evolving technologies.
Water covers of earths total surface area but only 1% is usable. So, new technologies are
needed to purify water. In fact, natural water cycle is a perfect example solar power being
involved in purifying earth water.

Fig.: Natural water cycle demonstrating how solar power can be used to purify water .

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 Why use solar power to purify water
In current perspective of energy situation world-wide, newer and energy effective technology
are needed for water purification especially in developing countries. Solar power is abundant &
pollution free. So it can be a way to utilize to purify water.

Fig. : Using solar power to purify water

Solar heating to purify water by boiling, solar desalination or solar distillation can be used to
purify water on vaporization and condensation principal. These processes are cost effective and
energy efficient too.

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 Solar Distillation System
Solar distillation is the use of solar energy to evaporate water and collect its condensate
within the same closed system.

Fig- Solar still of a solar distillation system.

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 Types of solar water distillation techniques

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 Designs of some solar stills

Fig.: Solar stills of various designs

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 Literature Review
Solar distillation has been researched previously mainly on improving its efficiency by thermal
insulation, increasing the rate of vaporization and condensation, using different designs for
solar still.
*Different types of glazing material have been used. Mainly glass is used but Flendrig used
Polyethene foil at 10 degree angle. Varol & Yazar used 4 mm thick Fe2O3 on glass and
transmissivity increased from 80% to 96%.
*Higher brackish water temperature was attained by using GI steel as absorber plate by
Velmurugan. Nafey used floated black absorber plate. Copper, Aluminium were also used as
absorber plate material.
*For reducing heat loss from side of walls, insulating and sealant materials are used. The glass
wool(Kabeel), thermocol(Capelletti), polystyrene(Varol & Yazar), rice husk, foams, etc., are
reported to be used as an insulating material for solar distillation unit.
*Among researches on solar still design, Tanaka & Nakateke installed solar still with internal and
external reflector and obtained 48% more productivity. Voropoulos designed compact still with
hot water thermal storage & thus increased basin water temperature. Shukla & Sorayan
fabricated a single slope and a double slope multi-wick type solar still incorporated with a wet
piece of jute cloth, which helped in a rapid evaporation of water.

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 Literature Review

*Effect extended condensation surface was tested by R. Bhardwaj, M.V. ten Kortenaar and
increasing the condensation surface by 7.5 times the water production rate was increased by
50%.

Fig: effect of increased condensation surface.

*The evaporation rate was increased by creating vacuum in the solar still. Using fan and turbine
system the vaporization rate was also tested for differet conditions.
*Effect of Brine depth has been tested too. Minasian & Al-Karaghouli reported that a brine
depth of 5 cm was maintained with the help of a float valve. Ismail conducted experiments for 6
days at different brine depths of 14, 18 and 12 mm for days 12, 34 and 56, respectively, and
found that when the brine depth increased by 50% (from 12 to 18 mm), the efficiency dropped
by 8% (from 31 to 23%).
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 Literature Review
*In some literature it is reported that a higher wind speed causes fall in the glass temperature
and hence increase productivity. Velmurugan & Ismail experienced that increase in wind speed
(3.3, 3.5, 3.6, 4.0,2.7 and 6.0 m/s) increases the distillate productivity.

*Thermodynamic analysis of solar still had been carried out by Shankar & Kumar. They
observed that the hybrid solar still produced 3.3 times higher yield than that by the passive solar
still due to a higher water temperature in the basin. Kumar & Tiwari observed a decrease in the
absorptivity (0.90.6) with time, the energetic and exergetic efficiencies decreased by
21.8% and 36.7%, respectively.

*Solar distillation with arsenic removal method was carried out by Ajay.K.Manna & Mou Sen.
With hydrophobic polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) microfiltration membrane they were able to
remove arsenic contamination from the feed water 100%.

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 Proposed design of solar still

Fig: Schematic diagram of the proposed solar still.

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 Benefits of proposed design
This design of the solar still provides:
1. An extra condensation unit maintaining at much lower temperature than the
primary condensation unit and hence rate of condensation will increase.

2. 3 steps (flat plat, normal radiation, copper absorbers via angled mirrors)
combined for water heating which ensures much needed 70 degree Celsius of
water for good rate of vaporization and bacteria filtering.

3. Direct membrane used to prevent leakage of pure water back to the basin water.

4. Arsenic filtering layer for use in rural areas where arsenic contamination is more
than 80%.
5. Double fan system for flushing our saturated air and inlet of fresh air of low
partial pressure for faster evaporation.

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 Expected Outcome
*If the extended condensation surface is made 7.5 times the water production will
increase by 20%. (Ref-4)

*The secondary condensation unit will provide higher (Tw-Tg) value about 50 degree
Celsius for faster condensation rate. (Ref-2)

*Using the flat plat solar collector to preheat the water will increase the efficiency by
30.7% to 42.4% . (Ref-5)

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 Summery
After studying numerous research papers, the modified solar still was designed. For
testing of this design and correct estimation of various parameters for accurate
efficiency the project should be done experimentally. The dimensions of the secondary
condensation unit and its effectivity, the heating of copper absorbers with angled
mirrors and the total assembly will be clear while real life experiment. Further
investigation on this design and experiment will be carried out on 7th and 8th semester.

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 References
1. Solar energy (G.N. Tiwari)
2. Maximized production of water by increasing area of condensation surface for solar distillation (R.F.
Muddy, R. Vhardwaj)
3. Removal of arsenic from contaminated groundwater by solar-driven membrane distillation (Ajay k
Manna, Mou Sen)
4. The Coupling Study for Solar Heating System and Membrane Distillation System (Tao Zhang, Wei Wei
Zhang)
5. Vacuum Distillation System Aiming to Use Solar-Heat for Desalination (Takahisa Jutsino, Kaouru
Hamabe)
6. A review on recent developments in solar distillation units (Pankaj Katila, Anupam Dewan, Sangeeta
Borah)
7. Experimental characterization of a multi-effect distillation system coupled to a flat plate solar collector
field: empirical correlations (Aicha Chorak, Patricia Palenzuela)
8. Improving the productivity of solar still by using water fan and wind turbine (Z.M. Omara, A.S. Abdullah)
9. A review on world water crisis (Water.org)

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