Water Desalination Using PCM to Store Solar Energy

Abstract

The rising water pollution levels and depleting freshwater sources have formed a delirious inverse proportionality for which the cause is human and effect is also on humanity. A possible solution to this problem is harnessing solar energy to engender thermal energy for solar distillation. Thus solar distillation is one of the potential solutions to asses both the ever-increasing demands for clean water and the inquisition for finding eco-friendly techniques to yield the water. This analysis was undertaken to discover the possible utilization of phase change material on solar distillation in double-slope solar still. The equipment that performs distillation is called "Solar Still." A phase change material (PCM) is a substance that either releases or absorbs energy comparable to the sensible heat during its phase transition to provide useful heat/cooling. Examples of PCM include phenol, paraffin, salt hydrate, and fatty acid. The experiment includes a blank distillate output without PCM, followed by possible optimization on the designed solar still. Solar distillation was performed in the improved solar still with varying types of PCMs. A theoretical model discerning the above phenomena and experiments were performed on the solar still. It was reported that for the yield maximum of water distillate with PCM (Phenol--5 cm) is 370 mL and without PCM is 345 mL, showing a 7.2% increase.