Performance enhancement of a solar still using a V-groove solar air collector-experimental study with energy, exergy, enviroeconomic, and exergoeconomic analysis

This paper intended to evaluate the performance of a new design of solar still integrated with a V-groove solar air collector. In this system, an air channel was placed under the basin to simultaneously raise the water temperature and the temperature difference between evaporation and condensation zones. The performance of this modified solar still was compared with a conventional one in terms of their productivity, cost of water production, energy, exergy, energy payback time, enviroeconomic, and exergoeconomic analysis. All the experiments were performed in the climatic conditions of Zanjan, Iran. Findings revealed that the freshwater produced in the modified system was 170% more than the traditional one. Moreover, the annual output energy and exergy of the modified still was 170% and 257% higher than the conventional one, respectively. The results also showed that integrating the solar air collector with solar still improved the energy and exergy parameters, energy payback time, and energy production factor 26, 67, 17, and 21% more than traditional solar still, respectively. Additionally, the modified solar still was found to be 40.6% more efficient than the conventional type in the Co-2 mitigation. Furthermore, based on the experimental results, three characteristic equations were presented to predict the daily water production, efficiency, and Co-2 mitigation of the conventional and modified solar stills based on the solar intensity and ambient temperature. Finally, a characteristic equation for instantaneous efficiency of the active still, which depends on climatic conditions and system performance parameters, was obtained.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the performance of a new design of solar still integrated with a V-groove solar air collector, showing improved freshwater production, energy and exergy parameters, and efficiency in Co-2 mitigation compared to a conventional solar still. Integration of the solar air collector significantly increased the annual output energy and exergy of the modified still, while characteristic equations were developed to predict water production efficiency and Co-2 mitigation based on solar intensity and ambient temperature.