Experimental Investigations on Solar Still using Phase Change Materials PCM and its Performance Prediction using Artificial Neural Network

Abstract

A significant amount of water available on the Earth is in saline form, and a very scarce quantity available is freshwater. In order to meet the requirement of freshwater, sustainable desalination techniques need to be explored for its low-cost generation. Solar desalination is a sustainable method using renewable energy which produces freshwater from brackish water by utilising solar energy. As freshwater generation capacity of conventional solar still is low hence energy storage materials (such as PCM) are embedded to store energy during the day duration, which can be utilised during off-sunshine hours (night hours). newlineThe present study analyses the impact of energy storage materials (PCM) on the freshwater productivity of solar still with PCM and solar still with PCM and pin fins. For the study, an experimental setup was designed and fabricated; and the results were compared with the conventional solar still under the atmospheric conditions of Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India (23o10and#8242; N 72o38and#8242; E). The variation in the mass of PCM and the mass of brackish water was considered as study parameters. The result shows that the total accumulated productivity in solar still with PCM and solar still with PCM and pin fins improved by 24% and 30%, respectively, as compared to conventional solar still. Moreover, the freshwater productivity of the solar still with PCM and pin fins improved by 8% as compared to the solar still with PCM. The energy efficiency in solar still with PCM and solar still with PCM and pin fins enhanced by 36% and 47%, respectively, as compared to conventional solar still. The energy storage material stores the energy during the day duration, which will be released during the night duration, so the solar still with PCM and pin fins generates more amount of freshwater after sunshine hours. The cost per litre ($/L/m2 ) was 0.022, 0.019, and 0.017 and the payback period (days) was 113, 97, and 89, respectively, for the conventional solar still, solar still with PCM and solar still with PCM and pin-