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Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Desalination
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/desal

Enhancing the performance of a solar driven hybrid solar still/ T


humidification-dehumidification desalination system integrated with solar
concentrator and photovoltaic panels
⁎,1
Amir Mahmoud, Hassan Fath, Mahmoud Ahmed
Egypt Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), Borg Al-Arab, Alexandria, Egypt

A B S T R A C T

A new solar driven desalination system is developed using hybrid solar still/two effects humidification-dehu-
midification desalination system combined with solar concentrator and two thermally cooled photovoltaic pa-
nels. The system performance is investigated under different operating conditions including varying the basin
water height, circulating air mass flow rate, and solar concentration ratio. A transient mathematical model based
on the conservation of mass and energy equations for the system components is developed and the predicted
results are validated using the available experimental and numerical data. The results indicated that the system
productivity decreases with the increase of the basin height and the circulating air mass flow rate. Integrating the
photovoltaic panels along with solar concentrator leads to a significant increase in the fresh water yield at high
concentration ratio. The maximum temperature of photovoltaic panels, electrical output power and efficiency of
both panels are presented. Accordingly, selection of the optimal operating conditions is developed within the
allowable maximum basin water temperature (to avoid a potential scale formation) and the maximum photo-
voltaic panels' temperature.

1. Introduction In addition, seawater can be considered a relatively unpolluted source


of water with only dissolved salts. Therefore, with the removal of its
Safe fresh water is essential to healthy lives and human prosperous salinity, seawater can become an immense fresh water resource and
where the UN defines the minimum annual per capita needs of fresh- provide a solution to the growing water crisis. Consequently, millions of
water to be 1000 m3. However, many countries of the world already middle eastern populations, for example, rely on desalination as alter-
face water shortages which became a global issue and every year new native fresh water resource and will have an increased dependency on
countries are affected by growing water shortage. The reasons for this desalination.
situation are due to the limited and poorly distributed natural water Different desalination technologies have been developed and well
resources, continuous pollution of these resources across the globe and established including thermal technologies (as multi-stage flash - MSF)
significantly rising population growth. Egypt, for example, is facing and multi-effect desalination - MED) and membrane technologies (as
similar fresh water and a gloomy future water scarcity particularly after reverse osmosis-RO and electro-dialysis-ED), [1]. In both cases, these
the construction of the Ethiopian dam on the Blue Nile that provides commercial technologies are energy intensive processes and suits
85% of the Nile water. The present water per capita in Egypt is about mainly large-scale freshwater production. These processes have their
600 m3/year (which is 60% of the UN defined minimum per capita respective merits and problems. The choice of a particular desalination
demand) and expected to be below 500 m3/year by the year 2025. process depends on the feed water salinity, product water quality re-
Possible solutions include better water conservation, water manage- quirements, energy source availability and the overall system eco-
ment, pollution control, and search for alternative resources. nomics.
Desalination offers one of the most promising alternatives water re- On the other hand, the use of conventional (hydrocarbon fuels)
sources for the supply of potable water demand in many countries. This energy sources to drive desalination technologies is limited and might
is because seawater presents unlimited source of water available on not be available in remote area and has negative impact on the en-
earth (97.5%) as compared to all-natural fresh water resources (2.5%). vironment. As Egypt (and many other countries and remote areas)


Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: aminism@aun.edu.eg, Mahmoud.ahmed@ejust.edu.eg (M. Ahmed).
1
On leave from Mechanical Engineering Dept., Assiut University, Assiut 71516, Egypt.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2017.12.052
Received 10 November 2017; Received in revised form 25 December 2017; Accepted 26 December 2017
0011-9164/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

enjoys a relatively high intensity of solar energy, matching solar energy loops. The influence of design and operational parameters on the
with desalination systems presents a real challenge, and is the field of system productivity was investigated. Their results indicated that in-
this paper. Integrating solar energy with desalination could counteract creasing the solar intensity, ambient temperature, basin absorptivity,
the problems of pollution, resource depletion and cost. Recent trends in and initial saline water temperature increases the system productivity.
seawater desalination target, therefore, are using renewable energy On the other hand, increasing wind velocity, basin insulation thickness,
especially solar energy as heat and electrical energy source practically evaporation and condensation surface areas, condenser emissivity, and
for remote areas. saline water mass has little effect on productivity. Furthermore, de-
Solar distillation, using Solar still (SS), humidification-dehumidifi- creasing the HDH air flow rate has insignificant influence on system
cation (HDH) processes, in many respects, presents an ideal solution productivity. Similarly, Fath et al. [9], developed a solar distillation
providing potable water to families and small communities in remote system of integrated SS with HDH sub-system. Based on their results,
areas (far from natural water resources). This is due to; i- abundant of natural air circulation can replace the forced circulation and simplify
available solar intensity in these areas, ii- the diurnal and seasonal the system complexity and economy. Moreover, the productivity was
fluctuation in solar distillation productivity is intrinsically linked to the found to be about 10 kg/m2 day for a typical summer day Abu-Dhabi
fluctuating water demand, iii- it involves simple technology that needs (UAE) which is almost double the normal SS production.
less design, manufacturing, operation and maintenance technical cap- On the other hand, solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels are being widely
abilities, and iv- it will, in most cases, be able to provide the rather used nowadays to generate electricity. Heat builds up around PV cells
modest direct use of drinking and cooking fresh water demand. Fur- and reduces its efficiency [10] and the electrical power generation is
thermore, water produced by direct solar distillation is naturally dis- reduced by 0.4–0.5% for every 1 °C above its rated output temperature
infected by the sun ultraviolet rays and needs less post treatment pro- which in most cases is 25 °C. However, the collected heat can be re-
cesses. The ability to produce solar driven and economical small-scale covered by cooling the PV panel through the use of cooling medium
desalination system is the primary focus of desalination researches. such as air or water [11], to increase the panel's efficiency [12]. The
Solar distillation, using Solar still, humidification-dehumidification, recovered heat can also be used as a driver of desalination processes
and integration of both processes are simple and reliable desalination and offers a good choice towards a sustainable environment. Hybrid
technology and for very small scale, it is economical, effective, and has photovoltaic-thermal system (PV/T) is a co-generation of both elec-
minimum environmental impact if the waste brine is disposed appro- tricity and thermal energy and increases PV/T overall efficiency, re-
priately. Research and development (R&D) work on SS, HDH and in- liability and lifetime while allowing almost full use of its recovered
tegrated SS-HDH has been reported by many researchers; however, this thermal energy. The PV/T recovered thermal energy can be used to
technology has not been commercialized, except for a few individual increase the water productivity of solar desalination process. Ong et al.
units, due to its low daily productivity. Different problems have been [13], for instance, used the heat recovered from high concentration PV/
addressed to improve the SS and HDH productivity and its specific T system in multi-effect membrane desalination process. It was also
water production cost. The solutions include the recovery of the energy reported that the PV/T has improved efficiency [14] and the thermal
losses, integration of both processes and possible storing the recovered energy recovery was used for HDH desalination process [15].
heat using various energy storage materials. The above survey of the literature indicated that most of the pre-
Several researchers studied the performance of solar still desalina- vious works related to SS and SS-HDH systems were conducted under
tion units. Esfahani et al. [2], for example, indicates that the daily yield normal solar irradiance without using any solar concentrator metho-
of a single effect solar still (SESS) desalination at inclination angle of dology nor multiple effect HDH system. Therefore, the originality of the
32° is between 4 and 5 L/m2. As 5 L/ day is the typical potable water present work is based on these two main concepts: first, a new in-
requirement per person, then 1–1.3 m2 of solar still basin area is, tegrated SS - multi effect HDH system combined with two photovoltaic
therefore, needed per person. Haddada et al. [3] enhanced the pro- thermal (PV/T) systems and the use the recovered PV/T heat to; a- raise
ductivity of the conventional basin type solar still using a vertical ro- the temperature of feed water and ii- circulating HDH air of system,
tating wick (VRW). Their results indicated that the productivity in- respectively. Second, the solar still and both SS-HDH and PV/T units are
creased to about 51.1% in summer and by 14.7% in winter compared exposed to varying solar concentrator ratio (CR) up to 5. The pro-
with the simple solar still (without VRW). Ben Halima et al. [4] de- ductivity of the developed system is investigated under different oper-
veloped an experimental technique that generates air bubbling through ating variables such as basin water height (h), CR, and HDH circulating
the basin water layer to increase the water evaporation rate. Results air mass flow rate. The optimal operating conditions for maximum
show that the water vapor content difference is moderately affected by productivity and safe operation (without a basin scale formation) in the
the water temperature and bubbling airflow rate but slightly affected by developed integrated SS-HDH-PV/T desalination system are in-
the water level. No detailed values were reported for the enhancement vestigated.
of production. Sharon et al. [5] experimentally studied the performance
of tilted SS with basin and tilted solar still with wick. Results showed 2. System description
that annual average yield of tilted SS with basin was nearly 19.76%
higher than that of the SS with wick. Eldalil [6] experimentally used The integrated SS-HDH-PV/T system includes closed circulating air
active vibratory SS with flexible packed stretched media of helical and open water loops as shown in Fig. 1. The SS-HDH-PV/T system
coiled copper wires which is installed in the bottom of the basin to consists of a single slopped SS (1) of 30° inclination angle with total
increase the efficiency of the still. Also, a vibrator (resonator) is in- area of 2.4 m2 (1.2 × 2), integrated with a built-in two effects vertical
stalled in the middle of the system structure to improve evaporation humidifiers of projected area of 2 m2 and a vertical dehumidifier of
heat transfer. The performance of modified system is compared with the water cooled condenser. A PV/T panel (7) is added in the riser side to
conventional solar stills and found that the productivity due to added generated electrical energy. Similarly, another PV/T panel (8) is added
backed helical wires increased by about 35%, and the productivity with to preheat the feed water feeding the second humidifier (6) and pro-
vibration is increased by 25%. duce electrical power. The brine of the second humidifier (6) will feed
To overcome the limitations associated with SS unit, Sharshir et al. the first humidifier (5) where its brine feeds the SS vertical reflector
[7] reported that the productivity of the SS with exit warm water from sheet (3). The thermal energy of both SS heat of condensation (2) and
HDH system is greater than that of the conventional SS. They found that the built-in PV/T system (7) are recovered to heat the HDH circulating
the daily water productions of the SS alone, and SS with exit warm air. Air is forced in the gap between the still glass cover (2) and the
water from HDH unit are 3.6, 8.2 L/day, respectively. Fath et al. [8] system glass cover (4), to partially recover the condensation energy
used SS integrated with HDH system with closed-air and open-water from the glass cover (2). The preheated air flows through the first

166
A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

Fig. 1. Schematic Diagram of the SS-HDH-PV/T


Desalination System: (1) SS, (2) SS glass cover, (3) SS re-
flection sheet, (4) System glass cover, (5) First humidifier,
Sun
(6) Second humidifier, (7) PV/T-a, (8) PV/T-w, (9) Inlet
feed water valve, (10) Dehumidifier (condenser), (11) Solar
Frame axis of rotaon
(9) concentrators, (12) Feed water pump, (13) Main feed water
Water tank, (14) Daily feed water tank, (15) SS Product water
(14)
collector, (16) HDH Product water collector.

Trough axis of
rotaon

40 cm .d (6) 40 cm
.c

(7)
100cm

40 cm
e .
(5)
(10)

.b
PW2
(11) (16)

(3)

(4) 100 cm

30 ͦ (1)
PW1
15
40 cm Water Basin

120 cm
AIR in a
.

Water
(13) (12)

humidifier (5), the PV/T system (7), the second humidifier (6), then the of reflector, inclination angles, and also the area. So, the area ratio
dehumidifier (10) (condenser), and finally recirculated back through between the reflector and the receiver gives the desired CR.
the system via a recirculating fan. Feed Water (FW) is pumped from the
main FW tank (13) via the FW pump (12) to the daily FW tank (14), 3. Theoretical analysis
where FW flows by gravity to the system via the control valve (9). In
addition, FW flow is controlled (by sensor) to maintain the water basin The newly developed SS-HDH-PV/T desalination system is nu-
height constant during the day operation to avoid salts concertation and merically simulated using the conservation of mass and energy for each
precipitation. Regarding the basin water temperature, different opera- sub-system and component. Details of assumptions are given in Ref.
tional parameters were analyzed to select the suitable values that [16,and 17]. The governing equation could be written as follows:
maintain basin water below 70 °C. These parameters include CR, basin
water height and air mass flow rate.
3.1. Solar still basin
The solar energy is concentrated by using a set of solar concentrator
mirrors (11) towards the still basin water, the humidifiers, and the two
The basin transient temperature and energy balance for the heat
PV/T panels. Most of the energy absorbed by the saline water in the
transfer processes occurring of the single sloped solar still is given as:
basin is transferred to the SS glass cover (g2) by evaporation, convec-
tion and radiation energy where condensation takes place to produce dTbasin ∑ Qbasin
=
the SS distillate (PW1). These energy components are partially re- dt Mbasin × Cpbasin (1)
covered by the HDH circulating air between glass cover (2) and (4). The
heated air flows then up through the first humidifier (5) to gain hu- where:
midity. The saturated air flows from the humidifier through the PV/T
∑ Qbasin = ∑ (Qabs basin + Qref basin + Qfw − Qloss ) (2)
(7) to get heated, then, through the second humidifier, to gain addi-
tional humidity. The saturated air is then cooled and de-humidified in Qabs basin = I Abasin αbasin τg 2 (3)
the condenser to produce the HDH distillate (PW2). In the current work,
the system productivity is investigated at different operating condi- Qref = I cos (90 − θ) r Aref τg 2αbasin
basin (4)
tions; circulating air mass flow rate is varied from 0.1 to 1.5 kg/s, water
basin height is varied from 0.01 to 0.3 m, CR is varied from 1 up to 5, Qfw = Ṁ evap water ∗Cpw ∗T hum1 (5)
and the effect of adding the two PV/T systems are also investigated all
at different CRs. The solar concentration ratio (CR) depends on the type Qloss = Qrad water g3 + Qconv water g3 + Qeva water g3 (6)

167
A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

1
Qrad water g3 = σ ⎛ ⎞ ((Twater basin + 273) 4 − (Tg3 + 273) 4)
⎝ ER1 ⎠ (7)

ER1 = (1 − εbasin)/(εbasin Awater basin ) + (1/ F12) + (1 − εg )/(εg Ag3 ), (8)

F12 = shape factor

Qconv water g3 = Hconv water g3 Awater basin (Twater basin − Tg3) (9)

Hconv water g3 = 0.884


0.33
(T + 273) ⎞
× ⎛ (Twater basin − Tg3) + (Pwater − Pg3) × water basin
⎜ ⎟

⎝ (268900 − Pwater ) ⎠
(10)
Qevap water g3 = Hevap Awater (Pwater − Pg3) (11)

Hevap = 0.016 Hconv water g3 (12)


2
Pwater = 1000 × (0.14862 Tg3 –0.0036526 Tg3 + 0.0001124 Tg3 3)
(13)

Mevap water = Qevapwater / hfg (14)

3.2. Humidifier (1)

The transient temperature of humidifier (1) and the energy balance


is given as: - Fig. 3. Comparison between predicted and both measured and numerical cumulative
dTHum ∑ QHum production.
=
dt MHum × CPHum (15)
Sc = υ / D
where:
T avg = (T hum + T air )/2 (26)
∑ QHum = ∑ (Qabs Hum + Qfeed − Qloss (Hum) (16)
where: Sc is the Schmidt number, and T_avg is the humidifier average
Qloss (Hum) = Qrad hum g 2 + Qconv hum air + Qevap hum air (17) temperature

Qabs hum = I cos (π (90 − θ)/180)(Ahum ) αhum τg (18) ( (


Sh = (f /8∗ (Re −1000) ∗Sc )/ 1 + 12.7∗ Sc 3 − 1 ∗ f /8
2
) ) (27)
Qconv hum air = Hconv air g 2 Ahum (Thum − Tair ) (19) where: f is the friction losses factor; Re is the Reynolds number, and Sh
(Tb + Tc ) is the Sherwood number
Tair =
2 (20) Qfeed = Mevap ∗T amb∗Cpw (28)
1
Qrad hum g 2 =σ⎛ ⎞ ((Thum + 273) 4 − (Tg 2 + 273) 4)
⎝ ER3 ⎠ (21) 3.3. Humidifier (2)
Qevap hum air = Mevap hfg hum (22) The transient temperature of humidifier and the energy balance in
Mevap = H mass∗Ahum ∗rhosaturated steam (1 − RH ) (23) humidifier (2) are given by following equations: -

where: RH is the air relative humidity and rhosaturated is the air dTHum ∑ QHum
steam =
density dt MHum × CPHum (29)

H mass = Sh∗D / Lhum (24) where:

D = 1.87E − 10∗ (Tavg + 273.15)2.072 (25) QHum = ∑ (Qfeed + Qconv abs air − Qconv humair − Qevap humair ) (30)

where: H_mass is the mass transfer coefficient, and D is the diffusivity Qabs hum = I cos (π (90 − θ)/180) Ahum αhum τg (31)

Qconv hum1 air = Hconv air g 2 Ahum1 (Thum1 − Tair ) (32)

(Td + Te )
Tair =
2 (33)

Qconv abs air = Hconv air g 2 Aabs (Tabs − Tair) (34)

3.4. Dehumidifier

The transient temperature of dehumidifier and the energy balance


in dehumidifier are given by Eqs. (35)–(38)
Tin + Tout
Tdehum =
Fig. 2. Comparison between predicted and measured cumulative production. 2 (35)

168
A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

Qcond air dehum = (ha in − ha out) × mair (36)

Kg/m2/oC
Q/Tm
Qconddehum

10.1
68.1
10.5
61.3
9.13
59.8
8.51
58.9
0.3
Mcond dehum =
hfg (37)

Qconddehum

Kg/m2/oC
m water =
Q/Tm (Tout − Tin ) × Cpw (38)

12.60
80.88
12.76
67.88
11.28
65.48
10.15
64.16
0.2

3.5. Photovoltaic/thermal systems


Kg/m2/oC
Q/Tm

14.37
90.61
14.05
71.96
12.50
68.75
11.16
67.04
By applying the conservation of energy [17], the following equa-
0.15

tions can be obtained such as the outlet fluid temperature, fluid average
temperature, tedler base temperature, solar cell temperature, useful
Kg/m2/oC

energy transferred to the fluid and the electrical efficiency.


Basin water height, m

Q/Tm

16.50
104.2
15.32
76.47
13.69
72.07
12.12
69.81
(hp11∗hp22∗ (ατ) eff∗Isun)
0.1
CR = 4 with PV/T

Tfout = ⎛ ⎜ + Tamb⎞ × D + Tfin × C⎟

⎝ UL ⎠ (39)
Kg/m2/oC

⎛ b × UL × L ⎞
D = 1 − e⎝ mf × cf ⎠ (40)
Q/Tm

19.57
139.7
16.73
81.70
14.94
75.14
12.89
72.11
0.01

⎛ b × UL × L ⎞
C= e⎝ mf × cf ⎠ (41)
Kg/m2/oC

UL = Ut + Ub (42)
Q/Tm

53.17

51.10

50.56

50.21
6.18

5.26

4.39

4.39
0.3

Ub = ((Li/Ki) + (1/hi))−1 (43)

Ut = ((1/UtT) + (1/hi))−1 (44)


Kg/m2/oC

(UT∗hT)
Q/Tm

67.42

61.46

59.97

59.05
8.87

8.43

7.27

6.74

UtT =
0.2

(UT + hT) (45)

UT = ((lg/kg) + (1/ho(i)))−1 (46)


Kg/m2/oC
Q/Tm

10.94
78.07
10.54
67.30
9.274
65.07

63.88

(ατ)eff = τg × α c × βc + αT × (1 − βc ) − ηo × βc (47)
0.15

8.34

hT
hp11 =
UT − hT (48)
Kg/m2/oC)
Basin water height, m

hi
Q/Tm

92.11
12.83
73.56
11.46
70.24
10.20
68.42

hp22 =
13.6
The system yield (Q, Kg/m2) and the maximum basin temperature (Tm,oC) at different operating conditions.

0.1

UtT − hi (49)
where: hp11 is the penalty factor due to the presence of glass cover;
Kg/m2/oC

hp22 is the penalty factor due to the presence of interface between glass
CR = 4

Q/Tm

plate; lg is the thickness of glass of the PV/T and kg is the thermal


18.82
129.2
16.30
81.10
14.59
74.99
12.64
72.06
0.01

conductivity of glass.

Isun
Tfave = ⎛hp11 × hp22 × (ατ)eff × + Tamb⎞ × (1 − fad) + Tfin × fad
Kg/m2/oC

⎜ ⎟

⎝ UL ⎠
Q/Tm

24.04

23.97

23.94

23.93
1.06

0.31

0.33

0.34

(50)
0.3

where:
Kg/m2/oC

b × UL × L ⎞
⎛ b × UL
fad = ⎜⎛1 − e⎝ mf × cf ⎠ ⎞ ⎟/
Q/Tm

28.81

28.62

28.56

28.52
1.35

0.58

0.61

0.63

⎠ mf × cf (51)
0.2


((hp11 × (ατ)eff × Isun(t)) + (UtT × Tamb) + (hi × Tfave ))
Tbs =
Kg/m2/oC

(UtT + hi) (52)


Q/Tm

33.03
0.722
32.61

32.48

32.39
0.15

1.68

0.91

0.92

((ατ)eff × Isun(t) + UT × Tamb + hT × Tbs)


Tc =
(UT + hT) (53)
Kg/m2/oC

qu = mf × c f × (Tfout − Tfin) (54)


Basin water height, m

Q/Tm

39.78

38.37

37.99

37.75
2.28

1.33

1.37

1.39
0.1

η = η0 × (1 − Bita o × (Tc − 298)) (55)


Kg/m2/oC

3.6. Boundary conditions and numerical solution


CR = 1

Q/Tm

59.61

50.32

48.77

47.93
0.01

4.27

2.65

2.42

2.41

All components initial temperatures are assumed to be at ambient


conditions. The transient environmental condition is measured at E-
Table 1

kg/s

JUST weather station (New Borg El Arab city, Alexandria, Egypt) and
0.1

0.5

0.9

1.5
ma

converted to equations by curve fitting as presented in Appendix. March

169
A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

Fig. 4. Schematic of circulating air Psychrometric process


diagram.

2017 environmental data was used as typical annual average weather organized into five subsections. The first one shows the effect of varying
conditions. A numerical explicit finite difference method is used to the circulation air mass flow rate (ma). The second presents the con-
solve the sub-systems governing Eqs. (1)–(55) using an iterative tech- sequence of changing basin water height (h). The third one presents the
nique. influence of increasing the solar concentration ratio (CR). The fourth
shows the effect of the presence of PV/T panels. Finally, the fifth sub-
3.7. Model validation section presents the PV/T panels performance parameters such as the
generated electrical power, efficiency and average solar cell tempera-
The predicted developed model results are validated using different ture.
sets of the available published SS experimental and numerical results.
Fig. 2 shows the comparison between the predicted SS productions and 4.1. Effect of circulating air mass flow rate
those measured by Sharshir et al. [7] at the same operating conditions.
The comparison indicated a reasonable agreement with the measured Table 1 presents the system productivity and the maximum basin
production values with the maximum deviation of about 10%. This temperature for CR = 1, as compared to CR = 4 with and without PV/
deviation is most likely due to the model assumptions such as ne- T panels recovered cooling heat. It is clear that increasing the circu-
glecting the system heat and leakage losses. Furthermore, the current lating air mass flow rate reduces the maximum water basin temperature
model predicted results are compared with the measured and numerical and system productivity. This trend is observed for all investigated
results of Afrand et al. [18], as shown in Fig. 3. As seeing in the figure, values of water basin heights and CRs. The reason is mainly that at high
an excellent agreement between the current results and those obtained; air flow rate, the air temperature does not get high enough to carry out
i- numerically is observed with maximum relative error of 5% and ii- enough humidity from the humidifiers as clearly shown in psycho-
experimental measurements except at morning time where the model is metric chart in Fig. 4.
slightly over-predicting the measured values. The reasons for these Based on these results, one can conclude that using natural air cir-
deviations may be related to assumptions considered to simplify the culation may produce a reasonable high yield. However, these finding is
model. associated with unfavorable raise of basin water temperature where its
maximum must not exceed the CaCO3 saturation condition limit of
4. Results and discussion 70 °C (where scale precipitate). Accordingly, the selection of optimal air
mass flow rate depends mainly on the other operating conditions such
This section presents the effect of different operational parameters as basin water height (partial heat storage), solar CR, and if the PV/T
on the performance of the developed solar SS-HDH-PV/T system. It is panels are added to the system or not. The circulating air mass flow rate

170
A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

(a) Cumulative production


(a) Cumulative production

(b) Basin water temperature b. Basin water temperature


Fig. 5. Transient variation of cumulative production and basin water temperature (at Fig. 6. Transient variation of Cumulative production and basin water temperature (at
different concentration ratios with basin water height of 0.01 m and air mass flow rate of different concentration ratios with basin water height of 0.15 m and air mass flow rate of
0.5 kg/s). 0.5 kg/s).

of 0.5 kg/s is, therefore, selected to investigate the effect of others 4.3. Effect of varying solar concentration ratio (CR)
variable; CR, water basin height, and the presence PV/T systems on the
overall system performance. The main objective of using different values of CR is to significantly
increase the system productivity while keeping the basin water tem-
4.2. Effect of varying basin water height perature below 70οC. The system productions along with basin water
temperatures at CRs of 1.0 to 4.0 are presented at three different basin
The effect of varying basin water height on the yield and maximum water heights of 0.01, 0.15, and 0.3 m as shown in Figs. 5 to 7 re-
basin water temperature at solar concentration ratio of 1, and 4 with spectively. In the current work, zero time represents 7:00 a.m. where
and without PV/T is also shown in Table 1. Increasing the basin height the value of solar intensity is about 200 W/m2. Several researchers such
significantly reduces the production as well as the basin water tem- as Bouadila et al. [19] and Ansari et al. [20] used the time 7:00 a.m. as
perature. At low water basin height, the evaporation rate is high due to the zero time in their work. The reason for selecting the time at
high basin water temperature. Consequently, the amount of yield is 7:00 a.m. as a zero time is to avoid inaccurate measurements of low
high. The increase of the basin water height results in a reduction in its irradiance at sun rise. However, this will result in a small part of irra-
temperature and accordingly, the evaporation rate is reduced which in diance that is not considered in the calculations and accordingly a little
turn reduces the production of fresh water. The presence of PV/T sys- part of energy is not used. Based on Fig. 5, as the solar CR increases
tems add more to the productivity as the system receives additional from 1 to 4, the production increases from 2.5 kg/m2 to 17 kg/m2, re-
thermal energy of the PV/T cooling recovered heat. spectively. However, the maximum basin water temperature increases

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A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

(a) Cumulative production

(a) Cumulative production

(b) Basin water temperature


Fig. 8. Transient variation of basin water temperature at different concentration ratios
(with PV/T system at basin water height of 0.01 m and air mass flow rate of 0.5 kg/s).

(b) Basin water temperature from 50 °C to about 80 °C. Further increase of basin water height sig-
nificantly reduces the yield along with the maximum water tempera-
Fig. 7. Transient variation of basin water temperature at different concentration ratios (at ture. For instance, at the basin water height of 0.3 m, the production of
different concentration ratios with basin water height of 0.3 m and air mass flow rate of
fresh water reduced to 5 kg/m2 (CR = 4) and the maximum tempera-
0.5 kg/s).
ture reduced to around 50 °C. The maximum basin water temperature

Table 2
The cumulative yield (Q, Kg/m2) and the maximum basin temperature (Tm,oC) in case of using PV/T-a (air), PV/T-w(water), and both systems PV/T-t (total) at variable operating
conditions.

h, m CR = 2 CR = 3 CR = 4 CR = 5

PV/T-a PV/T-w PV/T-t PV/T-a PV/T-w PV/T-t PV/T-a PV/T-w PV/T-t PV/T-a PV/T-w PV/T-t
Q/Tm Q/Tm Q/Tm Q/Tm Q/Tm Q/Tm Q/Tm Q/Tm Q/Tm Q/Tm Q/Tm Q/Tm

0.01 6.67 6.78 7.10 11.24 11.35 11.85 15.98 16.04 16.73 20.81 20.81 21.68
63.57 63.57 63.57 73.29 73.25 73.29 81.71 81.71 81.71 89.42 89.43 89.43
0.05 5.71 6.22 6.37 10.08 10.83 11.08 14.69 15.65 16.05 19.44 20.60 21.16
60.80 61.3 61.31 70.92 71.71 71.71 80.10 80.39 80.39 87.98 88.20 88.21
0.1 4.13 5.12 5.36 8.12 9.70 10.16 12.52 14.64 15.32 17.13 19.78 20.64
53.77 55.87 55.87 65.11 67.20 67.20 74.44 76.47 76.47 82.67 84.62 84.62
0.15 2.80 4.08 4.28 6.16 8.43 8.87 10.20 13.39 14.06 14.58 18.64 19.50
47.21 50.85 50.85 58.47 62.45 62.45 67.86 72.00 72.00 76.12 80.37 80.37
0.2 1.90 3.28 3.45 4.53 7.24 7.67 8.07 12.10 12.76 12.09 17.38 18.24
41.63 46.79 46.79 52.57 58.31 58.31 61.78 67.93 67.93 69.88 76.36 76.36
0.3 0.95 2.28 2.39 2.50 5.39 5.80 4.87 9.79 10.45 7.97 14.94 15.79
33.82 40.83 40.83 42.95 51.89 51.89 51.38 61.37 61.37 59.1 69.74 69.74

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A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

(a) Variation of cumulative production

(a) Variation of cumulative production

b. Basin water temperature


Fig. 10. Transient variation of basin water temperature at different concentration ratios
(with PV/T system at basin water height of 0.3 m and air mass flow rate of 0.5 kg/s).
(b) Basin water temperature
Fig. 9. Transient variation of basin water temperature at different concentration ratios
(with PV/T system at basin water height of 0.15 m and air mass flow rate of 0.5 kg/s). production and basin water temperature at concentration ratio up to 5,
and basin water height ranged from 0.01 to 0.3 are shown in Table 2. At
of 70 °C along with the productivity of 10 kg/m2 is obtained at the any value of CR, it is obvious that at basin water height of 0.01 m, both
basin water height of 0.15 m. PV/Ts, have the same production and basin water temperature. How-
Based on Figs. 5 to 7, by increasing solar CR, a significant increase ever, as the basin water height increases from 0.05 to 0.3 m, the pro-
in production and basin water temperature are observed at any value of duction and the basin water temperature become higher (when adding
basin water height. This is mainly due to the increase of solar irradiance PV/T-w) than those when adding PV/T-a. The reason is most likely due
which leads to a remarkable raise in the basin water temperature and to the higher cooling effectiveness and heat recovery of PV/T-w.
consequently increases the evaporation rate and production. As re- Moreover, at any specific value of basin height, the production and
ported earlier, at constant solar irradiance, the production decrease as basin water temperature increase with raising the concentration ratio
the basin water level increases due to the increase in water heat ca- from 1 to 5 due to increasing the input solar energy.
pacity leading to lower temperature and evaporation rate. The system transient variation of cumulative production and basin
water temperature for adding both PV/T-a and PV/T-w at CR varied up
to 4, and basin water level of 0.01, 0.1 and 0.3 m are presented in
4.4. Effect of using photovoltaic/thermal recovered heat Figs. 8 to 10. Similarly, the previous results of increasing the pro-
ductivity and basin water temperature are obtained as the solar CR
A further step towards enhancing the performance of the developed increases. However, including PV/T system enhances the production
desalination system is carried out by adding the two PV/T panels to and slightly increases the basin water temperature due to preheated
heat circulating air (PV/T-a) and preheat the feed water (PV/T-w), inlet feed water. This trend is noticed for all investigated basin water
respectively. The influence of both PV/T-a and PV/T-w on the heights of 0.01, 0.15, and 0.3 m.

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A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)
Fig. 11. Average solar cell temperature, output power, and electrical efficiency for both PV/T-a and PV/T-w (at different concentration ratios and basin water heights of 0.01 and 0.3 m).

4.5. Photovoltaic/thermal systems performance parameters solar cell temperature for PV/T-w is higher than that used for PV/T-a
where the difference in temperature increase with the increase of CR. At
The performance parameters of both PV/T-a, and PV/T-w such as a concentration ratio of 5, for instance, the maximum cell temperature
the maximum solar cell average temperature, electrical output power of PV/T-w is about 130 °C, while it is about 110 °C for PV/T-a. A re-
and efficiency are investigated as shown in Fig. 11 (a to f). Increasing markable reduction of both cell temperatures is observed at CR = 1,
basin water level has no effect on the maximum solar cell average where it reaches about 40 °C for PV/T-w and around 30 °C for PV/T-a.
temperature, electrical efficiency, and output power. However, a sig- Likewise, at CR = 5, the electrical efficiency is found to be around 7.8%
nificant effect is found as the CR varied from 1 up to 5. The average for PV/T-w, and 9.4% for PV/T-a. A significant enhancement of

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A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

Fig. 12. Comparison between total daily water


production at different water basin heights, dif-
ferent concentration ratios with and without
using PV/T.

Fig. 13. Comparison between basin water temperature at different basin water heights, different concentration ratios with and without using PV/T.

electrical efficiency of about 14% is noticed for cooling both solar cells. Fig. 12. Similar trend is observed for the variation of basin water
On the other hand, the output electrical power rises from around 45 W/ temperature as seeing in Fig. 13. On the other hand, the electrical PV/T
m2 for both cells at CR = 1 to nearly 170 W/m2 for PV/T-a and 150 W/ power increases with the increase of CR while no effect of varying basin
m2 for PV/T-w as CR increases from 1 to 5, respectively. water height is noticed as shown in Fig. 14. It is also noted that the solar
cell temperature using PV/T-w is higher than that of using PV/T-a at all
investigated CRs as shown in Fig. 15. Furthermore, the average cell
5. Overall performance assessment of the desalination system temperature for both PV/T systems of water and air increases with
increasing the CR while basin water height has no significant effect on
The overall performance of the developed SS-HDH-PV/T desalina- the average cell temperature. Based on Figs. 12 to 15, the operating
tion system at different operating conditions is investigated as shown in conditions of SS-HDH-PV/T desalination system at CR = 3, basin water
Fig. 12 to 15. The daily production increases with the increase of CR height = 0.15 with both PV/T systems for water and air attain the
while it decreases with increasing of the basin water height as shown in

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A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

Fig. 14. Electrical total PV/T power at different


basin water heights and different concentration
ratios.

optimal required operating conditions. The maximum allowable oper- the system performance have been studied and presented. In light of the
ating temperature for solar cell is 85 °C and any further increase of the these studied parameters, some important observations can be made.
temperature beyond this limit can cause a potential damage to the cell Reducing the circulating air flow rate increases the system productivity.
as indicated in [21,and 22]. Consequently, it is essential to identify the This can lead to the system operation under natural air circulation;
maximum operating temperature that can be reached. At such oper- eliminating the fan CAPEX & OPEX. Similarly, using solar concentrator
ating conditions, the basin water temperature is 63 °C, the average solar significantly increases the production. In addition, integrating the PV/T
cell temperature is about 85 °C, and the daily product is around 9 L/m2. panels and the recovery of its cooling energy for heating the circulating
Furthermore, Fig. 16 shows the variation of daily product and the basin air and preheating feed water adds more production of fresh water
water temperature for four consecutive days. As seeing in the figure, along with enhanced electrical power generation. On the other hand, as
due to the stored energy from the first day, the daily production in- the solar concentration ratio increases, the temperatures of the basin
creases in the second day to be 12 L/m2, and this value is being constant water and the PV panels increase specially at lower height of basin
for the third and fourth day. Similar trend for basin water temperature water. The more the basin water height (partial thermal energy sto-
is noticed where the maximum basin water temperature increases from rage), the lower the basin water and PV/T panels temperatures could be
63 °C to about 67 °C in the third and fourth day. achieved. Selections of the optimal operating conditions should con-
sider the maximum allowable basin water temperature (to avoid a
6. Concluding remarks potential scale deposits) and the maximum PV/T panels' temperature
(to avoid hot spots). Further research is currently on going to naturally
A new solar driven desalination system is developed using a hybrid circulate the HDH air and use PCM thermal energy storage while avoid
SS, two effects HDH desalination system combined with solar con- exceeding the basin water and PV/T limiting temperatures at different
centrator and two thermally cooled photovoltaic (PV/T) panels; SS- solar concentration ratios.
HDH-PV/T system. The effects of different operational parameters on

Fig. 15. Comparison between average solar cell


temperature of PV/T-air and PV/T-water at dif-
ferent basin water heights and at different con-
centration ratios.

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A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

CR Solar concentration ratio


D Diffusivity [m2/s]
Dh Hydraulic diameter [m]
ED Electro-dialysis desalination system
F Shape factor
FW Feed water
f Friction losses factor
H Heat transfer coefficient [W/m2 K]
H_mass Mass transfer coefficient [m/s]
hT Conductive heat transfer coefficient through tedler [W/m2 K]
hi Conductive heat transfer coefficient of insulation [W/m2 K]
I Intensity of solar radiation [W/m2]
K Convective mass transfer film coefficient [m/s]
L Cell width [m]
LC Characteristic length [m]
MED Multiple effect desalination system
MSF Multi stage flash desalination system
P Pressure [Pa]
PCM Phase change material
PHEs Plate heat exchangers
PTSC Parabolic trough solar collector
PW1 Product water first tank
PW2 Product water second tank
(a) Cumulative production Q Heat amount [W]
r Reflectivity
Re Reynolds number [ρ·v·Dh/μ]
RH Relative humidity [%]
RO Reverse osmosis desalination system
Sc Schmidt number [μ/ρ·D]
Sh Sherwood number [K·LC/D]
SESS Single effect solar still
SRAD Solar radiation intensity [W/m2]
SS Solar still
T Temperature [°C]
U Overall heat transfer coefficient from PV cells to ambient
through top and back surfaces of insulation [W/m2 K]
UT Conductive heat transfer coefficient from PV cells to flowing
air through glass plate [W/m2 K]
UtT Overall heat transfer coefficient from glass cover to glass
plate through PV cells [W/m2 K]
VRW Vertical rotating wick
WSPD Wind speed [m/s]

Greek letters
b. Basin water temperature
Fig. 16. Variation of production and basin water temperature in four consecutive days at η Efficiency
CR = 3 and basin water height = 0.15 m. α Absorptivity
β Packing factor
θ Inclination angle
Nomenclature ε Emmsivity
υ Kinematic viscosity [m2/s]
A Area [m2] μ Dynamic viscosity [kg/m·s]
Bita Temperature coefficient of solar cell [1/K]. Temperature ρ Density [kg/m3]
coefficient of a solar cell expressing the relation between the
change in physical property and the change in temperature Subscripts
that causes it. Solar panels have negative temperature coef-
ficients which means that when the temperature rises and a Air
solar panels heat up, the power output of the solar panel abs Absorbed
decreases. abs basin Absorbed in basin water
b Cell height [m] amb Ambient
CP Specific heat [J/kg·K] ave Average
CSS Conventional solar stills basin Basin water
CAOW Closed-air and open-water cycles bs Solar cell base

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A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

c Solar cell u Useful


cond Condensed rad Radition
conv Convection ref Reflected
dehum Dehumidifier ref basin Reflected from water basin
eva Evaporation sky Sky
f Fluid w Water
feed Feed water
fg Leatent heat
g Glass Acknowledgments
Hum Humidifier
in Inlet The work described in the current paper is financially supported by
ins Insulation the Egyptian government through the Ministry of Higher Education
loss loss amount (MoHE-Egypt). The authors would as well like to acknowledge the
o Reference value Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) for of-
out Outlet fering the facilities and tools.

Appendix A. Typical weather conditions (March2017) at E-JUST site, New Borg El Arab city, Alexandria, Egypt

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A. Mahmoud et al. Desalination 430 (2018) 165–179

Curve Fitting Equations


Tamb = 2.029E − 27 × t 6 − 5.694E − 22 × t 5 + 5.884E − 17 × t 4 − 2.591E − 12 × t 3 + 3.464E − 8 × t 2 + 0.00036 × t + 13.299
RH = (−5.786E − 27 × t 6 + 1.576E − 21 × t 5 − 1.553E − 16 × t 4 + 6.159E − 12 × t 3 − 4.376E − 8 × t 2 − 0.00204 × t + 75.730) × 10E − 2

Isun = (−1.031E − 24 × t 6 + 1.166E − 19 × t 5 − 4.296E − 15 × t 4 + 4.841E − 11 × t 3 − 3.789E − 7 × t 2 − 0.0192 × t + 224.940)

Vwind = 1.435E − 28 × t 6 − 5.789E − 23 × t 5 + 7.996E − 18 × t 4 − 4.6391E − 13 × t 3 + 9.91E − 9 × t 2 − 1.79E − 5 × t + 1.953

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