Condensate loss estimation and transient solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency for effective performance evaluation of the inclined solar still
Tijani Oladoyin Abimbola,
Husna Takaijudin,
Balbir Singh Mahinder Singh,
Khamaruzaman Wan Yusof,
Abdurrasheed Said Abdurrasheed,
Ebrahim Hamid Hussein Al-Qadami,
Abubakar Sadiq Isah,
Kai Xian Wong,
Nur Farhanah Ahmad Nadzri,
Samiat Abike Ishola,
Suleiman Akilu,
Tunji Adetayo Owoseni
Affiliations
Tijani Oladoyin Abimbola
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia; Corresponding author at: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia.
Husna Takaijudin
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
Balbir Singh Mahinder Singh
Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
Khamaruzaman Wan Yusof
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
Abdurrasheed Said Abdurrasheed
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia; Department of Civil Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria
Ebrahim Hamid Hussein Al-Qadami
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, Semenyih 43500, Selangor, Malaysia
Abubakar Sadiq Isah
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
Kai Xian Wong
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
Nur Farhanah Ahmad Nadzri
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
Samiat Abike Ishola
Department of Marine Sciences, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos State, Nigeria
Suleiman Akilu
Centre for Nanotechnology Research, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
Tunji Adetayo Owoseni
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia; Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia; Department of Civil Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, Semenyih 43500, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Marine Sciences, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos State, Nigeria; Centre for Nanotechnology Research, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia; Department of Mechanical Engineering, the University of Nottingham, NG72RD, United Kingdom
Previously, freshwater yields of the solar still were quantified only based on the actual distillate recovery, not considering condensate losses by any means. Likewise, solar-to-vapor conversion efficiencies of the solar still were conventionally considered and evaluated as one-off -rigid values- based on the latent heat of the average water temperature. In most cases, these approaches do not give a comprehensive performance details of the solar still. Thus, we suggest two considerations for effective performance evaluation of the inclined solar still. The first consideration is theoretical estimation of the condensate loss due to the condensate collection channel slope, while the other is the use of a transient method to evaluate the solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency. We demonstrated, geometrically, that the condensate loss on the inclined solar still can be significant—hence the need to consider it alongside the overall yield. We formulated a model to estimate the condensate loss and validated the model by comparing an estimated condensate loss with experimental loss. Similarly, we demonstrated a transient approach to evaluate the solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency by using the latent heat of the hourly water temperature. Accordingly, the optimum hourly efficiency of the investigated solar still prototype was 161.4%, with a daily average of 113.4% versus 108.4% from the conventional method. Overall, no study on the solar still had previously accounted for condensate losses by any means whatsoever, making our current study a reference and a pioneer in this concept and suggesting an advancement in the approach to report the performance productivity of the solar still. • Condensate loss on the inclined solar still due condensate collection channel slope was estimated geometrically and demonstrated to be significant. • Solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency was evaluated using an hourly transient approach.
