A developed solar-powered desalination system for enhancing fresh water productivity

A solar-powered desalination system using condenser integrated with flat-plate solar collector and vacuum pump was developed for producing fresh water and compared its performance with the ordinary solar desalination system without vacuum pump under different operational conditions. Systems temperatures added to ambient temperature were measured with hour intervals, under all experimental conditions for both solar desalination systems. Heat and mass transfer regimes were conducted for the used parallel condenser. Performance of the two systems was studied as a function of change in water salinity level and water tank flow rate and evaluated in terms of recorded temperatures, condenser efficiency, water productivity and cost. The experimental results reveal that the developed system increases water productivity for all water salinities compared with the ordinary system due to the presence of vacuum pump. The same results also reveal that water productivity increased and cost decreased by increasing water flow rate using the developed system while the vice versa was noticed using the ordinary system. Maximum fresh water productivity values of 10.94 and 7.27 L/d corresponding to cost values of 0.031 and 0.030 US $/L were recorded at ground water tank flow rates of 0.80 and 0.40 L/h using developed and ordinary systems, respectively.