Sea-water desalination using a desalting unit integrated with a parabolic trough collector and activated carbon pellets as energy storage medium

Amrit Kumar Thakur; Ravishankar Sathyamurthy; R. Velraj; I. Lynch; R. Saidur; A. K. Pandey; Swellam W. Sharshir; Zhenjun Ma; P. GaneshKumar; A. E. Kabeel

doi:10.1016/j.desal.2021.115217

Sea-water desalination using a desalting unit integrated with a parabolic trough collector and activated carbon pellets as energy storage medium

Amrit Kumar Thakur^*, Ravishankar Sathyamurthy, R. Velraj, I. Lynch, R. Saidur, A. K. Pandey, Swellam W. Sharshir, Zhenjun Ma, P. GaneshKumar, A. E. Kabeel

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Solar energy is considered the most influential source for various sustainable applications and its utilization can effectively convert brackish water into freshwater. The present work explores a novel method of augmenting the water productivity of the desalination unit using sea-water as the feed water through integrating a parabolic trough collector (to preheat the water supplied to the still basin) and activated carbon pellet (a highly porous energy storage material) to improve the rates of evaporation and water production. Experimental results revealed that the full-day water yield was augmented by 50.21% for the modified desalination unit, as compared to the conventional unit. 24-Hours water yield of modified solar still was increased by 85.2% compared to the conventional unit, owing to the synergetic effect of the parabolic trough and porous carbon. However, the integration of the parabolic trough collector significantly reduced the energy and exergy efficiency of the modified unit. The economic analysis estimated that the cost of the produced clean water was 0.010 US $ per liter for the modified unit, with a payback period of 66 days. Moreover, it was found that the modified desalination unit configuration can reduce CO₂ emissions by 18.74 tons during its lifespan.

Original language	English
Article number	115217
Number of pages	10
Journal	Desalination
Volume	516
Early online date	1 Jul 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2021.115217
Publication status	Published - 15 Nov 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors are highly thankful to RUSA, MHRD , Government of India and State Project Directorate RUSA, Government of Tamil Nadu for the financial support provided to Anna University, Chennai, India for the successful completion of the present work. Amrit Kumar Thakur would like to acknowledge KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology for a grant of the Fellowship.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

Activated carbon pellet
Energy-exergy analysis
Parabolic trough collector
Solar desalination
Water productivity
Water quality

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
General Chemical Engineering
General Materials Science
Water Science and Technology
Mechanical Engineering

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Thakur, A. K., Sathyamurthy, R., Velraj, R., Lynch, I., Saidur, R., Pandey, A. K., Sharshir, S. W., Ma, Z., GaneshKumar, P., & Kabeel, A. E. (2021). Sea-water desalination using a desalting unit integrated with a parabolic trough collector and activated carbon pellets as energy storage medium. Desalination, 516, Article 115217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2021.115217

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abstract = "Solar energy is considered the most influential source for various sustainable applications and its utilization can effectively convert brackish water into freshwater. The present work explores a novel method of augmenting the water productivity of the desalination unit using sea-water as the feed water through integrating a parabolic trough collector (to preheat the water supplied to the still basin) and activated carbon pellet (a highly porous energy storage material) to improve the rates of evaporation and water production. Experimental results revealed that the full-day water yield was augmented by 50.21% for the modified desalination unit, as compared to the conventional unit. 24-Hours water yield of modified solar still was increased by 85.2% compared to the conventional unit, owing to the synergetic effect of the parabolic trough and porous carbon. However, the integration of the parabolic trough collector significantly reduced the energy and exergy efficiency of the modified unit. The economic analysis estimated that the cost of the produced clean water was 0.010 US $ per liter for the modified unit, with a payback period of 66 days. Moreover, it was found that the modified desalination unit configuration can reduce CO2 emissions by 18.74 tons during its lifespan.",

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note = "Funding Information: The authors are highly thankful to RUSA, MHRD , Government of India and State Project Directorate RUSA, Government of Tamil Nadu for the financial support provided to Anna University, Chennai, India for the successful completion of the present work. Amrit Kumar Thakur would like to acknowledge KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology for a grant of the Fellowship. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier B.V.",

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AU - Thakur, Amrit Kumar

AU - Sathyamurthy, Ravishankar

AU - Velraj, R.

AU - Lynch, I.

AU - Saidur, R.

AU - Pandey, A. K.

AU - Sharshir, Swellam W.

AU - Ma, Zhenjun

AU - GaneshKumar, P.

AU - Kabeel, A. E.

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PY - 2021/11/15

Y1 - 2021/11/15

N2 - Solar energy is considered the most influential source for various sustainable applications and its utilization can effectively convert brackish water into freshwater. The present work explores a novel method of augmenting the water productivity of the desalination unit using sea-water as the feed water through integrating a parabolic trough collector (to preheat the water supplied to the still basin) and activated carbon pellet (a highly porous energy storage material) to improve the rates of evaporation and water production. Experimental results revealed that the full-day water yield was augmented by 50.21% for the modified desalination unit, as compared to the conventional unit. 24-Hours water yield of modified solar still was increased by 85.2% compared to the conventional unit, owing to the synergetic effect of the parabolic trough and porous carbon. However, the integration of the parabolic trough collector significantly reduced the energy and exergy efficiency of the modified unit. The economic analysis estimated that the cost of the produced clean water was 0.010 US $ per liter for the modified unit, with a payback period of 66 days. Moreover, it was found that the modified desalination unit configuration can reduce CO2 emissions by 18.74 tons during its lifespan.

AB - Solar energy is considered the most influential source for various sustainable applications and its utilization can effectively convert brackish water into freshwater. The present work explores a novel method of augmenting the water productivity of the desalination unit using sea-water as the feed water through integrating a parabolic trough collector (to preheat the water supplied to the still basin) and activated carbon pellet (a highly porous energy storage material) to improve the rates of evaporation and water production. Experimental results revealed that the full-day water yield was augmented by 50.21% for the modified desalination unit, as compared to the conventional unit. 24-Hours water yield of modified solar still was increased by 85.2% compared to the conventional unit, owing to the synergetic effect of the parabolic trough and porous carbon. However, the integration of the parabolic trough collector significantly reduced the energy and exergy efficiency of the modified unit. The economic analysis estimated that the cost of the produced clean water was 0.010 US $ per liter for the modified unit, with a payback period of 66 days. Moreover, it was found that the modified desalination unit configuration can reduce CO2 emissions by 18.74 tons during its lifespan.

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KW - Water quality

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Sea-water desalination using a desalting unit integrated with a parabolic trough collector and activated carbon pellets as energy storage medium

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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