Energy, exergy, and economic analysis of low thermal conductivity basin solar still integrated with phase change material for energy storage

摘要

In the present study, the basin of the conventional solar still (CSS) used for experimentation was made of galvanized iron, which was used as a reference still. The other two stills were incorporated with PCM, whose phase change temperature ranged from 58.03°C to 64.5°C. Among the stills incorporated with PCM, the basin of one of the stills was constructed using galvanized iron (GIBSS), while the basin of the other stills was made using acrylic (ABSS). From the experimentation, it was inferred that the usage of acrylic as the basin material not only helped to reduce the charging span of the PCM but also delayed the discharge time of the PCM, thereby enhancing the yield of the still. The yield of ABSS was 4.36 L/m~2/day, which was 10.1% and 19.1% higher than GIBSS and CSS, respectively. Meanwhile, the exergy efficiency of ABSS was 3.46% and that of CSS and GIBSS was 3.56% and 2.99%, respectively. The cost per liter of water produced by CSS, GIBSS, and ABSS was found to be 〒0.67, 〒1.09, and 〒1.23, respectively.