Effect of aluminum balls on the productivity of solar distillate. (August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Attia, Mohammed El Hadi; Driss, Zied; Manokar, A. Muthu; Sathyamurthy, Ravishankar
• Is Part Of: Journal of energy storage. Volume 30(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-08
• Subjects: Solar energy -- Aluminum balls -- Solar distillate -- Potable water; Energy storage -- Periodicals; Energy storage -- Research -- Periodicals; 621.3126
• DOI: 10.1016/j.est.2020.101466
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-152X

Abstract

Highlights: Two solar stills (conventional solar still with and without aluminum balls) were fabricated. Experiments were conducted on Renewable Energy Laboratory of the University of El Oued, Algeria. The performance of the conventional solar still was improved by low-cost sensible heat energy storage materials. The yield, thermal and exergy efficiency was improved by 27.16, 33.6 and 36.43 % higher as compared to the conventional solar still. Abstract: Drinking water has become a real global problem, despite the abundance of unsaturated saltwater and colorless, which do not meet the requirements of the World Health Organization. The El Oued, in the southeastern part of Algeria, contains vast quantities of salt water and non-potable water. Solar distillation can be used as a solution to resolve this trouble. To provide drinking water, we use free sunlight to treat salt water. The traditional solar distillation device, which is one mile long (0.5×0.5 m), is designed to confirm the effectiveness of this solution. The traditional single slope solar distillation, its dimensions (0.5×0.5 m), is designed to confirm the effectiveness of this solution. Solar distillation is an environmental, economic and simple technique, but it needs some modifications to increase the distilled water production. In this work, we added aluminum balls inside the solar distillate box. In this work, we added 42 aluminum balls with a diameter of 2 cm inside a solar distillates box; positioned as follows (6 balls x 7 balls). The results showed that aluminum balls increased the distillation of distilled water by about 27.16 %.