Effects of nanoparticle-enhanced phase change material (NPCM) on solar still productivity

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of nanoparticle-enhanced phase change material (NPCM) on solar still operation and performance. Technical and economic aspects were considered, to show an advance on earlier works using virgin phase-change materials (PCM). Three types of nanoparticle (TiO2, CuO and GO) were impregnated individually at 0.3 weight% in paraffin to form NPCM-1, NPCM-2 and NPCM-3 respectively. Experiments were conducted with four solar stills (SS) each of 0.5 m2 area using respectively paraffin (SSPCM), paraffin-TiO2 (SSNPCM-1), paraffin-CuO (SSNPCM-2) and paraffin-GO (SSNPCM-3). There was observed an increase in thermal conductivity and a reduction in melting and solidification temperatures, with NPCM compared to PCM. The effects of NPCM on water temperature, storage temperature, hourly and annual productivity were determined. SSPCM, SSNPCM-1, SSNPCM-2 and SSNPCM-3 yielded 3.92, 4.94, 5.28 and 3.66 l/m2/day respectively, corresponding to 26 and 35% increases in productivity of SSNPCM-1 and 2 respectively over SSPCM. Economic analysis showed cost per liter (CPL) of water of $0.035, $0.028, $0.026 and $0.13 for SSPCM, SSNPCM-1, 2 and 3 respectively. Considering the advantages in productivity and CPL, SSNPCM-2 can be recommended as the best solar still compared to SSPCM, SSNPCM-1 and 3, providing clean water at less than half the cost of bottled water in India.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.04.201
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Engineering and Technology > Mechanical, Biomedical & Design
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Sustainable environment research group
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Aston Institute of Materials Research (AIMR)
Additional Information: © 2018, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Funding:DST and the British Council under the UKIERI Thematic Partnership (DST/INT/UK/P-86/2014). Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) program by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, University Grants Commission (UGC) New Delhi, Proceeding No. MANF-2015-17-TAM-48968.
Uncontrolled Keywords: desalination,phase change material,nanoparticles,paraffin,productivity,echno-economic analysis
Publication ISSN: 1879-1786
Last Modified: 31 Oct 2024 08:08
Date Deposited: 26 Apr 2018 09:00
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://www.sci ... 95965261831237X (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2018-08-10
Published Online Date: 2018-04-25
Accepted Date: 2018-04-22
Authors: Dsilva Winfred Rufuss, D.
Suganthi, L.
Iniyan, S.
Davies, P.a. (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-4783-1234)

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