Influence of providing a three-layer spectrally selective floating absorber on passive single slope solar still productivity under tropical conditions

Geo Sebastian and Shijo Thomas

Energy, 2021, vol. 214, issue C

Abstract: Solar still with a novel floating absorber made of three layers is experimentally investigated under the climatic conditions of South India. The three-component floating absorber comprises of high absorptivity-low emissivity plasmonic micro-nano sized copper coated spectrally selective top layer, bio-derived carbon foam as insulating bottom layer and cotton fabric wrapped around the Carbon foam as the middle layer. In comparison to an Aluminium floating absorber based solar still, the three-layer floating absorber still displayed excellent solar thermal conversion with a maximum efficiency of 88.6%. It also showed the potential to demonstrate high sensitivity and quick response. The proposed absorber attained its maximum temperature in 15 min from the time of recording maximum solar intensity as against 155 min for Aluminium absorber. The experiments reveal and validate for the first time, the significance of vapour space temperature and internal relative humidity on the productivity of solar stills operating with a floating absorber. Vapour space temperature relatively increased up to three times for the three-layer floating absorber based still which adversely affected its productivity and daily still efficiency despite its better evaporation potential. The cost of water production increased by 14.7% as a consequence of high vapour space temperature.

Keywords: Solar still; Distillation; Floating absorber; Solar thermal conversion; Internal relative humidity; Vapour space temperature (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:214:y:2021:i:c:s0360544220319551

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118848

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