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Productivity enhancement of hemispherical solar still using Al2O3-water-based nanofluid and cooling the glass cover

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Abstract

The hemispherical distiller characteristics are having a large surface area for receiving and condensing compared to a conventional single-slope distiller. To achieve the maximum possible utilization of this feature, in first the Al2O3 nanoparticles were adding to the basin water to increase the evaporation rate, in the second modification the glass cover cooling technology was utilized to increase the condensation rate. To investigate the influences of Al2O3-water nanofluid and the glass cover cooling technology by a water sprinkler on hemispherical solar distiller performance, three hemispherical solar distillers were designed and tested in the same climate conditions. The first is the reference case (conventional hemispherical solar distiller), second is the modified hemispherical solar distiller with Al2O3-water nanofluid, and the third is the modified hemispherical solar distiller with Al2O3-water nanofluid and water sprinkler. Three different concentrations of Al2O3 nanoparticles 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3% were studied. Results showed that, the accumulative yield of traditional hemispherical solar distiller reached 3280 ml/m2/day, while the utilization of Al2O3-water nanofluid and the water sprinkler improve the accumulative yield to 6750, 6900, and 7250 ml/m2/day, with improvement 105.8, 110.4, and 121% of the volume friction of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3%, respectively. Also, the improvement in the daily efficiency for utilizing the Al2O3 nanoparticles and water sprinkler reached 105.7, 109.7, and 120.1% for nanoparticle concentrations 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3%, respectively as compared to the reference case.

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Abbreviations

A s :

Absorber area

h fg :

Latent heat

ηdaily:

The daily efficiency

∑ṁ d :

Accumulative yield

CHSS:

Conventional hemispherical solar still

MHSSN:

Modified hemispherical solar still with Al2O3-water nanofluid

MHSSNS:

Modified hemispherical solar still with Al2O3-water nanofluid and water sprinkler

SSSS:

Single slope solar still

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LABTHOP Laboratory, Faculty of Exact Sciences, University of El Oued, 3900, El Oued, Algeria

    Abdelkader Bellila

  2. Department of Physics, Faculty of Exact Science, University of El Oued, 39000, El Oued, Algeria

    Abdelkader Bellila & Mohammed El Hadi Attia

  3. Department of Mechanical Power Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

    A. E. Kabeel & Mohamed Abdelgaied

  4. Faculty of Engineering, Delta University for Science and Technology, Gamasa, Egypt

    A. E. Kabeel

  5. Mechanical Power Engineering and Energy Department, Faculty of Engineering, Minia University, Minia, Egypt

    K. Harby

  6. Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, Saudi Arabia

    K. Harby

  7. Unit of Materials, Environment and Energy (UR14ES26), Faculty of Sciences of Gafsa, Gafsa University, Gafsa, Tunisia

    Jihen Soli

Authors
  1. Abdelkader Bellila
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  2. Mohammed El Hadi Attia
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  3. A. E. Kabeel
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  4. Mohamed Abdelgaied
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  5. K. Harby
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  6. Jihen Soli
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Contributions

All authors read and approved the final manuscript. MEHA and AB performed the experiments and does the analysis. MA helps in result analysis and in preparing manuscript. KH helps in result analysis and in preparing manuscript. JS helps in manuscript writing and finalized the manuscript. AEK reviewed and guided in preparing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. E. Kabeel.

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Bellila, A., Attia, M.E.H., Kabeel, A.E. et al. Productivity enhancement of hemispherical solar still using Al2O3-water-based nanofluid and cooling the glass cover . Appl Nanosci 11, 1127–1139 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-021-01677-y

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