Distillation Process Using Passive Solar Still Design Evan Kontras University of Missouri Department of Mechanical and Aerospace

Engineering March 2010 Abstract As the global population expands and industrializes the production of potable water is becoming a global issue. Clean water is a valuable resource in many rural areas of developing countries, and the processes to provide it can be unaffordable and difficult to implement. A passive solar still uses only the radiant energy from the sun to evaporate brackish water, condense it and collect it from the still. This report details a design for a solar still to be used in Mumbai, India, where ambient temperatures average 30 C. Using nothing more than common extruded polystyrene as the structure and insulation with a polycarbonate glazing, the solar still will cost no more than $200. The still has a water surface area of 2.25 , and can hold a maximum of 45 kg of water. The still produces a minimum of 2 kg and a maximum of 6.68 kg clean water each day, depending on cloud conditions. This simple design will provide means for rural areas without accessible drinking water to have convenient clean water each day at a reasonable cost.

Introduction In the previous report two viable options for solar desalination devices were presented. A simple passive solar still, and a flow through desalination device consisting of evaporation and condensation sections were both considered. A very general idea of the capabilities of both systems was obtained. After considering the output requirement, construction and operation costs, and operating conditions, the passive solar still was selected for further design. The passive solar still can provide the required 2 kg of water each day, while having low construction costs and little required maintenance. A simple schematic of a passive solar still is shown in Fig. 1 below to provide the reader with some terms to be used further in this analysis.

Figure 1. Passive Solar Still Schematic. The first objective in detailed analysis for a passive solar still is to determine what parameters are most critical to its operation. Some initial assumptions will be made for the design. The still is assumed to be a completely sealed system. The glazing is taken to be infinitely thin, as its thickness will likely be negligible when compared to other dimensions. If one assumes a control volume surrounding the solar still as shown in Fig. 1, the following modes of heat transfer inside the system should be considered. Convective heat transfer will occur between the basin water surface and glazing. Free convection will occur due to buoyant forces from the variation in density of the air/vapor mixture with temperature difference. The heat transfer due to convection from the basin water surface to the glazing surface can be written as, (1) where is the heat transfer coefficient for convection, is the basin water temperature, is the glazing surface temperature. The convective heat transfer coefficient for a single surface passive solar still was found from [1] to be = where is the saturation pressure at basin water temperature, and the vapor pressure at glazing surface temperature. There is also radiative heat transfer between these surfaces that should be considered. As solar radiation passes through the glazing, some is absorbed by the basin water, and then radiated from the basin water to the glazing surface. The radiative heat transfer between these surfaces can be written as (3) where is the radiation heat transfer coefficient between the surfaces, and is a function of the emissivity of both the basin water and the glazing, and respectively. An effective emissivity value for the surfaces can be found from the following equation. (4) It follows that the radiation heat transfer coefficient is (5) where is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. Some heat transfer is due to the actual evaporation of basin water, and can be written in a similar form to equations 1 and 3. The evaporative heat transfer is given by (6) where be is a function of the convective heat transfer coefficient, and was determined by [1] to (7) Using the initial assumptions for the solar still system along with the heat transfer values for each mode of heat transfer inside the control volume, an energy balance can be written in (2)

order to determine the amount of water produced each day. The solar still system is broken down to individual components for simplicity, and an energy balance for each component follows. The energy balance for the glazing is given by (9) with and being the radiation and convective heat transfer for the glazing. The total heat transfer to the glazing from solar radiation is . Similarly, the energy balance for the basin water can be written in terms of the total heat transfer to the water from solar radiation as (10) where is the mass of basin water, the specific heat of water at the basin water temperature, and the change in water temperature. Some heat will inevitably be lost to the surroundings through the walls of the still and the basin/ground interface, which is accounted for by the term. The energy balance for the basin in terms of the total heat transfer from solar radiation absorbed by the basin is then given by (11) where is the heat loss from the basin due to conduction, the heat loss from the walls due to conduction, the total surface area of the sides of the solar still, and the surface area of the basin. In order to simplify the analysis, the relative importance of the many values is compared here. By looking at the radiation absorptance and reflectance values for the different materials of the solar still, a good idea of which terms may be neglected is found. Solar energy absorbed by glazing: Ordinary window glass is a very selective transmitter of solar radiation. More than 90% of solar radiation passes directly through most glasses and transparent plastics such as polycarbonate. For wavelengths longer than 2.7 m however, these materials are effectively opaque, preventing nearly all energy transmission by infrared radiation [2]. This is ideal for a solar still, trapping infrared radiation inside the still and increasing internal temperature. It is therefore assumed that the solar energy absorbed by the glazing is zero. Solar energy absorbed by basin water: It has been shown by Phadatare and Verma [1] that the thickness of basin water is directly related to the evaporation output inside a solar still. The thinner the basin water layer, the more easily and effectively evaporation will take place. Although a parametric study of water depth could be done here, the results presented by Phadatare and Verma [1] will be assumed correct. A maximum water depth of 2 cm was used for this design, resulting in 20 kg of water per square meter of surface area in the basin. The total solar energy going into the water is found using Eq. 10 once the other terms are characterized.

Energy transfers for the basin water: Heat transfer from radiation between basin water and glazing: , To get an order of magnitude estimate for Eq. 3 and 5 were used to find the radiation heat transfer for a range of different values for and . Figure 2 shows a plot of the radiation heat transfer over a range of for four constant values of , though the effect of changing is apparent.

Radiation Heat Transfer from Basin Water Surface to Glazing

800 Heat Transfer (W/m^2) 600 400 200 0 -200 -400 0 50 100 150 Tg=7 degrees Tg=27 degrees Tg=47 degrees Tg=67 degrees

Basin Water Temperature (C)

Figure 2. Radiative Heat Transfer Between Basin Water and Glazing. It can be seen from Fig. 2 that for the smaller the difference in temperature between the basin water and glazing the less heat transfer from radiation will occur. Negative values in Fig. 2 represent heat transfer from the glazing to the basin water, that is, . Trapping this radiation may seem ideal to maintain a high temperature inside the still, but having a glazing material with a higher temperature than the basin water would make condensation impossible. For temperature differences of around 15 C or greater, this heat transfer value cannot be neglected and must be accounted for as one part of the absorbed solar radiation not going into evaporation. A general order of magnitude estimate for this temperature difference is approximately 100 W/ , but a more accurate value is obtained once the glazing temperature is found.

Heat transfer from convection on basin water surface: Heat transfer due to convection is very important in a passive solar still, as there is natural fluid flow from buoyancy effects. The heat transfer coefficient for natural convection is dependent on the pressures at both the water surface, and the inner glazing surface. The pressure difference is the driving force behind the convective flow. The pressure at the basin water surface is assumed to be the saturation pressure at , the pressure at the glazing surface is assumed as the vapor pressure at the glazing surface temperature. Equations 1 and 2 are used to find this value, and values over a range of basin water temperatures are plotted in Fig. 3 below for an estimated glazing temperature of 45 C to observe the trend.

Convective Heat Transfer from Water

150 Heat Transfer (W/m^2) 100 50 0 0 -50 -100 20 40 60 80 100

Water Temperature (C)

Figure 3. Convective Heat Transfer from Basin Water.

Heat transfer from evaporation of basin water: Critical to understanding the mass flow rate of condensate from the solar still is determining the evaporative heat transfer. This is the amount of energy per unit area that actually goes into turning the basin water into vapor. The rate at which the basin water is evaporated is also dependent on the convection conditions within the solar still, hence the dependence of the evaporative heat transfer coefficient on the convective heat transfer coefficient. This value is determined upon further analysis.

Important Heat Loss/Waste Considerations: Heat transfer from outer glazing surface due to convection: Natural convection has been considered as a mode of external heat loss for the simple solar still. The heat transferred or lost to the surroundings is given by Eq. 12 and is dependent on the temperature of the outer glazing surface and the ambient air, as well as the convection heat transfer coefficient. (12) Because the glazing is considered infinitely thin, the outer surface temperature is simply . The natural convection heat transfer coefficient can be approximated for temperature differences of around 30 C in air as 4.33 W/ [2]. The ambient air temperature in Mumbai, India is fairly stable year round as shown in Table 1 in the preceding preliminary solar desalination design report. Using an averaged value of 30 C for , the convective heat transfer from the outer surface of the glazing over a range of glazing surface temperatures was plotted, as shown in Fig. 4.

Convective Heat Transfer from Glazing Surface

160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Heat Transfer (W/m^2)

Glazing Surface Temperature (C)

Figure 4. Convective Heat Transfer from Glazing Outer Surface.

Heat transfer from basin and sides due to conduction:

Conduction is dependent on the thermal conductivity of the conducting material, the temperature difference across the material, and the thickness of the material. By insulating the

solar still walls and basin properly, heat loss through the surfaces from conduction can be minimized. The heat transfer from conduction for the basin and sides is given by, , (13), (14)

where and are the thermal conductivities of the basin material and sides, and the thicknesses respectively, and the temperature difference across the material. Even for large temperature differences such as 100 C, the heat transfer across a 10 cm thick piece of Styrofoam is only 30 W/ . A temperature difference so large is unlikely, but even if it was to occur, this loss is small compared to the other modes of heat transfer already mentioned. In order to simplify analysis, the worst case of 30 W/ is used in this analysis. To sum up the energy balance, now neglecting the particular terms as discussed, the following energy balance can be written to determine the heat transfer for evaporation. (15) where is the amount of solar energy absorbed by the water.

The total amount of solar energy radiating into the solar still is dependent on the position of the solar still with respect to the sun, the time of day, and the time of year. The climate of India is fairly stable though, and therefore only the time of day is considered here. The solar still will be placed facing west for optimum output. At noon the sun will be directly overhead, and the ambient temperature will be higher for the remainder of the day while the sun sets in the west. Higher overall system temperatures increase output [1]. The amount of solar radiation as a function of the angle between the sun and ground is given by, (16) where represents dawn, exactly noon, dusk, and W/ . The hours of sunlight in India fluctuate between 6 and 9 hours throughout the year, therefore the worst case of 6 hours is used for this analysis. Fig. 5 shows the solar radiation throughout the day.

Solar Radiation Throughout Day

1600 1400 Solar Radiation, W/m^2 1200

1000
800 600 400 200 0

7:12 AM

9:36 AM

12:00 PM
Time of Day

2:24 PM

4:48 PM

q_solar Time of day W/m^2 9:00 AM 0 9:20 AM 235.64058 9:40 AM 464.12133 10:00 AM 678.5 10:20 AM 872.26279 10:40 AM 1039.5223 11:00 AM 1175.1965 11:20 AM 1275.1629 11:40 AM 1336.3841 12:00 PM 1357 12:20 PM 1336.3841 12:40 PM 1275.1629 1:00 PM 1175.1965 1:20 PM 1039.5223 1:40 PM 872.26279 2:00 PM 678.5 2:20 PM 464.12133 2:40 PM 235.64058 3:00 PM 0

Figure 5. Solar Radiation at Different Times Through Day. Knowing the solar radiation on the still, the temperature of the glazing can found using (17) where is the glazing mass, the specific heat, and , the final and initial temperatures respectively. A polypropylene film or 2mm thick polycarbonate sheet will be used to approximate the infinitely thin glazing surface. Because the glazing will transmit approximately 90% of the solar radiation, the maximum temperature was found using the energy in 10% of the maximum radiation for 1 second, and an average ambient air temperature of 30 C. The maximum increment of increase in glazing temperatures are 14.28 C/s and 0.05 C/s for the polypropylene film and polycarbonate sheet respectively. The steady state temperature will occur when the glazing is transferring away just as much energy as is incoming. Using the convection heat transfer equation with W/ the steady state temperature of the glazing is found to be 41.34 C. The polypropylene film will obviously reach this temperature much faster than a polycarbonate sheet, therefore the polycarbonate sheet is selected for this design. The thickness of the polycarbonate sheet can be manipulated to affect the time it takes for the glazing to reach steady state temperature. A time greater than the solar cycle would be ideal because a lower glazing temperature would result from there simply not being enough time to reach the steady state temperature of 41.34 C, however this is not a realistic option.

Figure 6 shows the effect of changing the glazing thickness on the time it takes the glazing to reach its steady state temperature.

Time to Steady State Temperature

250 200 Time, (min)

150 100 50 0
0 1 2 3 4 5

Thickness of Polycarbonate Glazing, (cm)

Figure 6. Steady State Temperature of Glazing as Function of Thickness It is easy to see that a glazing thick enough to prevent it from heating to steady state within the solar cycle is not plausible. For such a thick piece of glazing the assumption of 90% total radiation transmitted is likely incorrect. Therefore 41.34 C is used as the glazing temperature. Next the energy transfers for the water are considered. The incoming solar radiation going into the basin water can be simplified and written as (18) where is the heat transfer per unit area which was found earlier to be 30 W/ in a worst case scenario. The total area was manipulated here to get a range of estimates for . Fig. 7 on the following page shows the change in with basin surface area.

Percentage of Solar Energy Into Basin Water

Solar Energy Energy Going Into Basin Water (%) 0.88 0.875 0.87 0.865 0.86 0.855 0.85 0.845 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Total Basin Surface Area (m^2)

Figure 7. Percentage of Solar Radiation Absorbed by Basin Water vs. Basin Surface Area. It is easy to see that as the total surface area of the basin increases, more energy is lost to the surroundings through conduction, as we should expect. Because the sun is not always directly overhead, values of were found for the entire range of solar radiation throughout the day and averaged for individual surface area values of interest, shown in Fig. 8.

Averaged Solar Radiation Absorbed by Basin Water

710 705 700 695 690 685 680 675 670 665 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 Heat Transfer (W/m^2)

Basin Surface Area, (m^2)

Figure 8. Energy Absorbed by Basin Water To find the proportion of this energy that actually goes into evaporation, Eq. 1-6, Eq. 15, and the steady state glazing temperature are used. A range of values for is used to show the sensitivity to this parameter. An average value of 700 W/ was used for the amount of solar energy absorbed by the basin water. Fig. 9 shows the heat of vaporization for different basin water temperatures.

q_evap
Heat of Evaporation (W/M^2) 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 20 40 60 80 100

Temperature of Basin Water (C)

Figure 9. Heat of Vaporization of Basin Water. Although it may seem from Fig. 9 that a low basin water temperature is ideal, this is not the case because the vapor at less than 41.34 C would not condense on the glazing. Increasing the water temperature will effect evaporation by also increasing the radiation heat transfer between the water and glazing. To determine the temperature of the basin water due to the solar radiation, Eq. 17 is used and it is found to be 68.42 C. This corresponds to a heat of evaporation of 307.86 W/ . Dividing this value by the latent heat of vaporization of water at 70 C(~68.42 C) the mass production rate of distilled water obtained in the solar still is found to be 0.496 kg/hr, per square meter of water surface. There is on average around 6 hours of production time each day, evaporating 2.97 kg of water each day per square meter of still. On cloudy days the solar radiation can be expected to be only 30% of that on a clear day [3]. Therefore the size of the solar still will be increased to again accommodate a worst case scenario. Producing only 0.89 kg with a 1 square meter area after 6 hours on a cloudy day, more surface area is required. A total water surface area of 2.25 square meters will be used. This design will meet the output requirement even in the least ideal conditions producing 2 kg water on cloudy days, and on clear days produce 6.68 kg of clean water. Cost: The cost of construction for a passive solar still is considerably cheaper than a more complex humidification/condensation flow through system. All that is required is a large insulated box with solar absorbing material in the basin, and a transparent glazing. Because the box is not under any loading, most insulating foam boards such as expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, and polyisocyanurate board can provide structural rigidity and no other materials will be needed. The cost of construction components is listed below.

Box Structure/Insulation: Extruded polystyrene foam has the best combination of light weight, rigidity, and low cost. Foam boards of 2 thickness measuring 4x8 can be purchased for approximately $20 from sources such as Univfoam and Foam-Control. Three boards are required for the construction a solar still with base dimensions of 1x2.25 m, with a 20 inclined slope glazing. The maximum side height is 0.50 m, the minimum side height is 0.14 m. Glazing: One solid piece of polycarbonate measuring 1x2.25m will be required for the glazing. This can be purchased from sources such as Eplastics and USplastic for around $70 for a 1/16 thick sheet measuring 4x8. The excess from this sheet will be used to construct the catch for the distilled water. Solar Radiation Absorber: Another sheet of the same polycarbonate sheet used for the glazing can be painted black and used as a solar heat absorber. A picture of the passive solar still is shown below in Fig. 10, and dimensions are shown in Fig. 11. The dimensions of the water refill port are arbitrary, or if tube filling is chosen as the filling mode, it can be omitted. The actual catch for distill water is not shown, but simply consists of a strip of polycarbonate fixed to the sloped glazing near the bottom, to catch and direct the condensate out through the drip spout.

Figure 9. Passive Solar Still Design.

Figure 10. Design Drawing of Solar Still, Dimensions in cm.

References 1. M.K. Fadatare, S.K. Verma, Influence of Water Depth on Internal Heat and Mass Transfer in a Plastic Solar Still, Desalination 217, March 2007. 2. John H. Lienhard IV, John H. Lienhard V, A Heat Transfer Textbook 3rd Ed., Phlogiston Press, Cambridge, MA; 2008. 3. K. Kimura, D.G. Stephenson, Solar Radiation On Cloudy Days, Trasnactions, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers, Vol 75, Part 1, 1969. 4. F.A. Holland, J. Siqueiros, S. Santoyo, C. Heard, E.R. Santoyo, Water Purification Using Heat Pumps, E&FN Publishing, London, UK; 1999. 5. SolAqua LLC, Solar Still Basics, http://www.solaqua.com/solstilbas.html, SolAqua; 2008 6. Raymond Chang, Chemistry 8th Ed., McGraw Hill Publishing, New York, NY; 2005 7. S.A. Parsons, B. Jefferson, Potable Water Treatment Processes, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK; 2006.