Seawater desalination for production of

freshwater

In the last 50 years, more and more countries have experienced water shortage, several technologies
have been devolved around the globe each best suited for its location and limitations. They have
proven water desalination in general to be a good and reliable method in terms of fresh water output
and financial viability. In the last decade the focus on production of new technologies has been moved
to the incorporation of renewable energy, as the process of desalinisation has substantial energy
requirements.

Most commonly evaporation is employed to produce fresh water from water vapour that has been
condensed, to reduce heat loss often condensation heat is used preheat the feed water.

Most process that utilise evaporation will involve heat addition thats why they are the methods with
the highest energy demand a simple cost analysis shows that the largest part of the cost of water is
linked to the price of energy which has been continuously increasing in recent years and the trend is
not expected to change in the future. Therefore, it is necessary to consider alternative sources of
energy for powering the production of desalinated water.
Solar energy has the potential to provide such alternative as it can be both used for collection of heat
and generation of electricity.

See page 11 for treatment of water

Community solar disstilation

For a significant number of people, especially those living in rural communities like
Lobitos is, the problem of a permanent and potable water supply the best solution would not
be to wait for the municipality to improve the existing system of water distribution and
treatment facilities, but to take control of their own needs. In general, a public supply is more
desirable and should have the highest priority, but this should not stop individuals from the
community to act by providing a local supply of first-rate water sufficient for basic domestic
needs as defined by the WHO (World Health Organisation) (ADD this as a side box?? water
used for all usual domestic purposes including consumption, bathing and food preparation)
(WHO, 1993). Among the possible solutions, perhaps the least difficult one would be to
construct their own distiller that will be powered by solar energy, this is usually known as a
solar still. (Cipollina et al., 2009)

Design

Regardless of the design of the still the principles of production of pure water form a
saline water, by which they work are the same: The still is filled with saline water to the
required level over the collector the black surface that is meant to absorb radiation. As the
collector gets hotter it will transfer its heat to the water which will lead to evaporation at the
surface. The evaporation of the water leads to an increase of density of water vapour in the air
in the container. The water vapor condensates on the inside surface of the cover, releasing its
latent heat. Finally, the condensed water drips down because of gravity and is deposited in a
separate tank. (Cipollina et al., 2009) (Arunkumar et al., 2012)

The cover slope angle is responsible for the condensate to flow out of the still: a small angle
would produce condensate to drip from the interior face of the glass cover while a large angle
would increase still costs and require more structure to remain upright. Rahbar and Esfahani
(Rahbar and Esfahani, 2013) and Khalifa (Khalifa, 2011) examined the relationship between
cover tilt angle and latitude for optimal distillate production. It seems that for higher
productions, cover tilt angle and latitude should be close to each other.
Based on literature the glass cover doesnt require to be cooled as it will not absorb as much
heat as the collector so it will constantly be colder than the water vapor allowing for
condensation to produce.

Parameters of a still

These are the characteristics, dimensions and factors that have a influence over the
distillation yield al of these depend on mostly climate and design choices. These are the
parameters that have been regularly considered by scientist when calculating efficiency or
general yield.
 E G A
Q=
2.3

Where Q is the daily output of distilled water ( liters/ day ), E is the overall

efficiency, G is the Global Direct Normal Solar Radiation (MJ /m2 ) and finally A is for the
aperture area of the still (the plan area for a simple basin still). In Peru, the Direct Normal
2
Solar Radiation is in the range of 4.5 7 .5 kWh /m , more exactly in Lobitos, -4.460
2 2
latitude and -81.279 longitude, it is around 6.2 kWh/ m 22 MJ /m across the year (see
figure 1). The area for sufficient production of water for a major part of the local population
2
would be around 25 00 m .The efficiency was uncovered by most research projects to be
around 35 . (Eolss Desware, 2010)

(include analytical method of how to find efficiency Munzer was meant to get this)

Figure 1:Solar radiation for South America , zoomed in on Lobitos

0.35 22 2500
This will lead to an output of Q= 8350l/day .
2. .3
Bibliography
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