Design and thermal performance investigation of solar-powered water purifying system for Dire Dawa Rural area

To meet the ongoing demand for fresh water, desalination technologies must be improved to be cleaner, more efficient, and environmentally friendly. Utilizing solar energy for desalination systems provides a rapid fix for the energy shortage as well as an efficient mitigation tool for issues related to global climate change, deforestation, and local economic problems. This study's primary goal is to analyze a solar-assisted water purifying system in the rural area of Dire Dawa with an average per day solar energy of 5 kWh/m2/day. The study was conducted on the lowest solar intensity to determine the parameters of a parabolic dish sunlight collection system: aperture radius of 1 m, deepness of 0.25 m, focal length of 1 m, and receiver diameter of 0.9 m. A clay pot is used as the insulation for condensation water because condensation water is used as a feeder for the receiver and clay is one of the finest insulation materials. The result shows that the absorber heated to its highest surface temperature of 448.3 °C, 0.33 liters of condensed water, and 0.8177 liters of evaporated water were obtained by recycling heat dissipation to heat the water heater. The production efficiency of the collector is obtained as 40.35 %. The water hardness is improved from 479 to 12, pH 6.78 to 7, and total dissolved solids (TDS) from 564 to 94. This study also paves the desalinated water is suitable for industrial and construction works.