Enhancing Utilization of Solar Energy for the Application of Seawater Desalination

摘要

The article quantifies the improvement in performance of a solar-assisted scheme for the application of seawater desalination using parabolic trough collector by tilting the concentrators through small angles. Fossil fuel is used to augment the intermittence of solar irradiation. The scheme was analytically assessed under various solar conditions. Evaluation of performance included estimating the annual production of fresh water from seawater with the fuel only added to maintain a minimum daily production rate. The tilt angle improved the utilization of the incident solar radiation. For months with relatively low solar altitude angles; i.e., for March and October, it is revealed that with a tilt angle of 20° it resulted in improving the solar gain by 14% and 19%; respectively, while for months with high altitude angles the improvement was less. The improvement in solar gain has resulted in reducing the fuel heat requirement by about 44% for the month of October under certain conditions. Better utilization of solar energy has economical benefits as well as it leads to reducing the detrimental effects on the environment.