Hemispherical Solar Distiller Performance Utilizing Hybrid Storage Media, Paraffin Wax with Nanoparticles: An Experimental Study

Ravishankar Sathyamurthy; Wael M El-Maghlany; Mohammed El Hadi Attia; A E Kabeel; Mohamed Abdelgaied; Moataz M Abdel-Aziz; A S Abdullah; S Vasanthaseelan

doi:10.3390/molecules27248988

Hemispherical Solar Distiller Performance Utilizing Hybrid Storage Media, Paraffin Wax with Nanoparticles: An Experimental Study

Molecules. 2022 Dec 16;27(24):8988. doi: 10.3390/molecules27248988.

Authors

Ravishankar Sathyamurthy^{1

2}, Wael M El-Maghlany³, Mohammed El Hadi Attia⁴, A E Kabeel^{5

6}, Mohamed Abdelgaied⁵, Moataz M Abdel-Aziz⁷, A S Abdullah^{8

9}, S Vasanthaseelan¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals, Dammam 31261, Saudi Arabia.
² Interdisciplinary Research Center for Renewable Energy and Power Systems (IRC-REPS), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
³ Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria 5424041, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of El Oued, El Oued 39000, Algeria.
⁵ Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Tanta 31733, Egypt.
⁶ Faculty of Engineering, Delta University for Science and Technology, Gamasa 7730103, Egypt.
⁷ Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Horus University, New Damietta 34517, Egypt.
⁸ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Wadi Addawaser 11991, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Tanta 31733, Egypt.
¹⁰ Department of Mechanical Engineering, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Arasur, Coimbatore 641407, Tamil Nadu, India.

Abstract

The traditional method of obtaining fresh water for drinking is by burning fossil fuels, emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. However, renewable energy is gaining more traction since it is available free of cost for producing fresh water. In this study, Al₂O₃ nanoparticles were distributed in a phase change material (paraffin wax) that had been fixed at a hemispherical distiller water basin. Three scenarios with three hemispherical distillers were examined. A conventional hemispherical distiller (CHD), a conventional hemispherical distiller with paraffin wax as a phase change material (CHD-PCM), and a conventional hemispherical distiller with PCM partially filled with Al₂O₃ nanoparticles (CHD-N-PCM) were tested under the same climatic conditions. The experimental results showed that CHD gave a daily yield of 4.85 L/m²/day, while CHD-PCM increased the yield to up to 6.2 L/m²/day with a 27.84% daily yield enhancement. The addition of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles to paraffin wax CHD-N-PCM improved hemispherical distillate yield up to 8.3 L/m²/day with a 71.13% increase over CHD yield.

Keywords: Al2O3 nanoparticles; PCM; desalination; efficiency; fresh water; hemispherical solar distiller; thermal conductivity.

MeSH terms

Atmosphere
Fossil Fuels
Fresh Water
Nanoparticles*
Paraffin*

Substances

Paraffin
Fossil Fuels

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.