A New Cascade Solar Desalination System with Integrated Thermosyphons

Current cascade solar desalination systems can convert sea water into fresh water, but they can only produce small quantities. To produce more fresh water, there is a solution that can be applied, i.e. modification of the existing desalination system by adding thermosyphons. The objective of this research is to design a cascade solar desalination system with integrated thermosyphons and to establish its ability to produce fresh water. The experimental study was conducted by adding an aluminum absorber plate as a heat absorber in the upper tub, and nine copper thermosyphons with each length of 60 cm in the bottom of the tub. Thermosyphons with an inclination angle of 15° were used as a solar energy absorber and heat enhancer for sea water. The experiment was performed with varying sea water flow rates of 3600, 7200, and 10800 mL/h, and levels of sea water in the upper tub of 2, 3, and 4 cm. To compare the amount of fresh water obtained from the utilization of the thermosyphons, we also used the cascade solar desalination system without the thermosyphons. The results show that the cascade solar desalination system with integrated thermosyphons was able to produce an average amount of fresh water of 38.6 mL/h, with an average daily thermal efficiency of 18.78%. On the other hand, the same system without the thermosyphons produced on average 9.9 mL/h of fresh water, with an average daily thermal efficiency of 8%. The results indicate that the use of thermosyphons in the cascade solar desalination system can increase fresh water productivity by up to 3.89 times, and increase the thermal efficiency of the system by up to 2.35 times.

Cascade solar desalination; Heat pipe; Solar energy; Thermosyphon

An experimental investigation into a cascade solar desalination system with and without integrated thermosyphons has been conducted. The average fresh water productivity of the system with thermosyphons with varying mass flow rates and levels of sea water was 38.62 ml/h, with an average daily thermal efficiency of 18.78%. On the other hand, the average fresh water productivity of the system without thermosyphons was 9.93 ml/h, with an average daily thermal efficiency of 8%. The comparison results which were obtained show that the system with integrated thermosyphons was able to increase the solar heat transfer to the desalination system, increased fresh water productivity by up to 3.89 times, and increased thermal efficiency by up to 2.35 times. The addition of the thermosyphons as a passive cooling device had a significant effect in increasing the evaporation of sea water in the system; therefore, it increased the amount of heat required by sea water to condense into fresh water.

The authors would like to thank the DRPM Universitas Indonesia for funding this research through the “PITTA 2017” scheme No. 816/UN2.R3.1/HKP.05.00/2017.

Abad, H.K.S., Ghiasi, M., Mamouri, S.J., Shafii, M.B., 2013. A Novel Integrated Solar Desalination System with a Pulsating Heat Pipe. Desalination, Volume 311, pp. 206–210

Ando, M., Okamoto, A., Tanaka, K., Maeda, M., Sugita, H., Daimaru, T., Nagai, H., 2018. On-orbit Demonstration of Oscillating Heat Pipe with Check Valves for Space Application. Applied Thermal Engineering, Volume 130, pp. 552–560

Diao, Y.H., Liang, L., Kang, Y.M., Zhao, Y.H., Wang, Z.Y., Zhu, T.T., 2017. Experimental Study on the Heat Recovery Characteristic of a Heat Exchanger based on a Flat Micro-heat Pipe Array for the Ventilation of Residential Buildings. Energy and Buildings. Volume 152, pp. 448–457

Haribowo, R., Yuliani, E., Prasetyo, A.G., 2017. Development of Seawater Distiller that Uses Electrical Energy for Sustainable Clean Water Production. International Journal of  Technology. Volume 8(3), pp. 477–485

He, T., Mei, C., Longtin, J.P., 2017. Thermosyphon-assisted Cooling System for Refrigeration Applications. International Journal of Refrigeration. Volume 74, pp. 165–176

Huang, B.-J., Chong, T.-L., Wu, P.-H., Dai, H.-Y., Kao, Y.-C., 2015. Spiral Multiple-effect Diffusion Solar Still Coupled with Vacuum-tube Collector and Heat Pipe. Desalination, Volume 362, pp. 74–83

Jouhara, H., Anastasov, V., Khamis, I., 2009. Potential of Heat Pipe Technology in Nuclear Seawater Desalination. Desalination, Volume 249, pp. 1055–1061

Kusuma, M.H., Putra, N., Antariksawan, A.R., Koestoer, R.A., Widodo, S., Ismarwanti, S., Verlambang, B.T., 2018. Passive Cooling System in a Nuclear Spent Fuel Pool using a Vertical Straight Wickless-heat Pipe. International Journal of Thermal Sciences. Volume 126, pp. 162–171

Kusuma, M.H., Putra, N., Ismarwanti, S., Widodo, S., 2017. Simulation of Wickless-heat Pipe as Passive Cooling System in Nuclear Spent Fuel Pool using RELAP5/MOD3.2. International Journal on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology. Volume 7(3), pp. 836–842

Li, Z., Siddiqi, A., Anadon, L.D., Narayanamurti, V., 2018. Towards Sustainability in Water-energy Nexus: Ocean Energy for Seawater Desalination. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Volume 82, pp. 3833–3847

Lior, N., Kim, D., 2018. Quantitative Sustainability Analysis of Water Desalination – A Didactic Example for Reverse Osmosis. Desalination. Volume 431, pp. 157–170

Mamouri S.J., Derami H.G., Ghiasi M., Shafii M.B., Shiee Z., 2014. Experimental investigation of the effect of using thermosyphon heat pipes and vacuum glass on the performance of solar still. Energy, Volume 75, pp. 501–7

Manju, S., Sagar, N., 2017. Renewable Energy Integrated Desalination: A Sustainable Solution to Overcome Future Fresh-water Scarcity in India. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 73, pp. 594–609

Morad, M.M., El-Maghawry, H.A.M., Wasfy, K.I., 2017. A Developed Solar-powered Desalination System for Enhancing Fresh Water Productivity. Solar Energy, Volume 146, pp. 20–29

Mosleh, H.J., Mamouri, S.J., Shafii, M.B., Sima, A.H., 2015. A New Desalination System using a Combination of Heat Pipe, Evacuated Tube and Parabolic through Collector. Energy Conversion and Management, Volume 99, pp. 141–150

Noie-Baghban, S.H., Majideian, G.R., 2000. Waste Heat Recovery using Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger (HPHE) for Surgery Rooms in Hospitals. Applied Thermal Engineering, Volume 20(14), pp. 1271–1282

Panchal H.N., Shah P.K., 2013. Performance analysis of double basin solar still with evacuated tubes. Appl Sol Energy, Volume 49(3), pp. 174–9

Putra, N., Ariantara, B., Pamungkas, R.A., 2016. Experimental Investigation on Performance of Lithium-ion Battery Thermal Management System using Flat Plate Loop Heat Pipe for Electric Vehicle Application. Appl. Therm. Eng, Volume 99, pp. 784–789

Putra, N., Saleh, R., Septiadi, W.N., Okta, A., Hamid, Z., 2014. Thermal Performance of Biomaterial Wick Loop Heat Pipes with Water-base Al₂O₃ Nanofluids. International Journal of Thermal Sciences, Volume 76, pp. 128–136

Rajaseenivasan T, Tinnokesh AP, Kumar GR, Srithar K, 2016. Glass basin solar still with integrated preheated water supply–theoretical and experimental investigation. Desalination, Volume 398, pp. 214–21

Utami, T.S., Arbianti, R., Manaf, B.N., 2015. Sea Water Desalination using Debaryomyces hansenii with Microbial Desalination Cell Technology. International Journal of Technology. Volume 6(7), pp. 1094–1100

Zuhri, F., Arbianti, R., Utami, T.S., Hermansyah, H., 2016. Effect of Methylene Blue Addition as a Redox Mediator on Performance of Microbial Desalination Cell by Utilizing Tempe Wastewater. International Journal of Technology. Volume 7(6), pp. 952–961