article · Desalination and Water Treatment
An exergoeconomic assessment evaluates a multi-section solar distiller coupled with a solar air heater to identify optimal operational and design configurations. The evaluation incorporates system lifespan and interest rates while analysing exergoeconomic indicators, exergy production factors, exergy loss rates, exergy efficiency, and distilled water costs. System performance varies considerably across seasons, showing the lowest daily output and exergy efficiency during winter and reaching peak performance in summer, when monthly output exergy averages 145 times 10 to the power of 3 watt-hours. System modifications demonstrate substantial economic improvements. For water produced with salinity between 0 and 500 parts per million, costs fall by up to 96.7 percent overall, and 96.3 percent with four interior sections. Increasing interior sections from zero to four achieves water cost reductions of 54.1 percent at 0 parts per million and 62.4 percent at 200 parts per million.
Clean water production in sunny, off-grid regions often depends on solar desalination, which can be constrained by poor thermal efficiency and high water costs. Establishing that internal partitioning combined with a solar air heater can cut water production costs by over half provides engineers with clear parameters for designing more affordable, solar-driven water treatment hardware.
The findings are relevant to developers and manufacturers of decentralised solar water desalination equipment serving areas with saline water sources. By quantifying cost reductions linked to specific multi-section geometries, the findings inform hardware design for small-scale potable water generation. The study represents applied engineering research and design optimisation, placing the technology at an intermediate stage prior to commercial product development.
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This study focuses on optimizing the solar distiller and provides a foundation for future research and development in solar distillation technologies. This paper does an exergoeconomic analysis of a multi-section solar distiller (MS-SS) system that is combined with a solar air heater (SAH). Therefore, its objective is to determine the most effective operational and design parameters while taking into account the system's lifespan and interest rate. This will offer significant knowledge for improving the MS-SS. Key parameters examined in the study include exergoeconomic indicators, exergy production factor (EPF), exergy-based loss rate, exergy efficiency, and water cost. Variations in exergy loss rate across different seasons were observed, with implications for system efficiency. The exergoeconomic analysis demonstrates the impact of interest rates on the system's economic viability, with corresponding effects on water costs. The key findings suggest varying daily output and exergy efficiency, with the lowest values recorded in winter and the highest in summer. Summer demonstrates superior output exergy, averaging of 145 × 103 Wh per month. In the normal case of output salinity between 0 and 500 ppm, the cost was reduced by 96.7 %, and by 96.3 % in the case of four interior sections. Water cost reduction is also observable at the same output salinity, with 54.1 % at 0 ppm and 62.4 % at 200 ppm between number of interior sections = 0 and 4.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.dwt.2024.100535
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