Study of Solar Desalination System with Evaporative Porous Surface in Basin to Meet out Drinking Water Requirement of Remote Area Dwellers of Rajasthan
Desalination is a technique used to produce potable water from water sources containing dissolved chemicals contamination. Water with TDS value (mg/L) less than 1000 is called potable and water with TDS value (mg/L) >1000 is called brackish water. There are several methods of water desalination like ion exchange, electro dialysis, reverse osmosis, distillation, solar desalination etc.
Solar desalination is a process in which solar energy is used to evaporate brackish water in an air-tight chamber and allowed to condense on a condensing surface, leaving behind the dissolved impurities to make it suitable for drinking. States of India like Rajasthan with highly contaminated ground water and ample solar radiations may use this technique to produce drinking water from the available brackish water.
In this paper a mathematical model is presented to theoretically predict the output of a solar desalination system by enhancing the evaporative surface area which is verified experimentally. It is observed that efficiency of solar desalination system may be increased by increasing the surface area available for evaporation.
Bassam, A., Abu-Hijleh, K. and M. Rababa’h (2003). Experimental study of a solar still with sponge cubes in the basin. Energy Conservation and Management, 44(9).
Bassam, A., Abu-Hijleh, K., Rababa’h, M. and Hasan A. Mousa (1997). Water film cooling over the glass cover of a solar still including evaporation effect. Energy, 22(1): 43-48.
Chaudhuri, Rajat (1998). ‘Water: What are our rights to it?’ Safety Watch, Calcutta, India. [Cited in World Bank – UNPD WSP October 1999].
Dunkle, R.V. (1961). Solar water distillation – The roof type still and a multiple effect diffusion still, International Developments in Heat Transfer ASME. In: Proceedings of International Heat Transfer Part V, University of Colorado, pp. 895.
Kiatsiriroat, T. (1989). Review of research and development on vertical solar stills. ASEAN J. Sci. Technol. Develop., 6(1): 15.
Sodha, M.S., Kumar, A., Tiwari, G.N. and R.C. Tyagi (1981). Simple multiple-wick solar still: Analysis and performance. J. Solar Energy, 26(2): 127.
State Rural Drinking Water & Sanitation Policy, Government of Rajasthan, 2005.
Suneja, S. and G.N. Tiwari (1999). Optimization of number of effects for higher yield from an inverted absorber solar still using the Runge-Kutta method. Desalination, 120: 197.
Tanaka, H., Nosoko, T. and T. Nagata (2000). Parametric investigation of a basin-type-multiple-effect coupled solar still. Desalination, 130: 295.
Tiwari, G.N., Kupfermann, A. and S. Agrawal (1997). A new design of double condensing chamber solar still. Desalination, 114: 153.
World Health Organization and UNICEF (WHO-UNICEF) (2001). “WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation Coverage Estimates 1980-2000: Access to Improved Drinking Water”.