Chapter9 2 9. Water Desalination Using PCM to Store Solar Energy

Abstract The rising water pollution levels and depleting freshwater sources have formed a delirious inverse proportionality for which the cause is human and effect is also on humanity. A possible solution to this problem is harnessing solar energy to engender thermal energy for solar distillation. Thus solar distillation is one of the potential solutions to asses both the ever-increasing demands for clean water and the inquisition for finding eco-friendly techniques to yield the water. This analysis was undertaken to discover the possible utilization of phase change material on solar distillation in double-slope solar still. The equipment that performs distillation is called “Solar Still.” A phase change material (PCM) is a substance that either releases or absorbs energy comparable to the sensible heat during its phase transition to provide useful heat/cooling. Examples of PCM include phenol, paraffin, salt hydrate, and fatty acid. The experiment includes a blank distillate output without PCM, followed by possible optimization on the designed solar still. Solar distillation was performed in the improved solar still with varying types of PCMs. A theoretical model discerning the above phenomena and experiments were performed on the solar still. It was reported that for the yield maximum of water distillate with PCM (Phenol—5 cm) is 370 mL and without PCM is 345 mL, showing a 7.2% increase.