Recent Progress on Passive, Thermally Localized Solar-Driven Multistage Water Evaporation

Bibliographic Details
Title: Recent Progress on Passive, Thermally Localized Solar-Driven Multistage Water Evaporation
Authors: Hyeon Tae Kim, Morteza Afsari, Noel Peter B. Tan, Ho Kyong Shon, Leonard D. Tijing
Source: Membranes, Vol 13, Iss 5, p 460 (2023)
Publisher Information: MDPI AG, 2023.
Publication Year: 2023
Collection: LCC:Chemical technology
LCC:Chemical engineering
Subject Terms: thermally localized, solar water evaporation, passive desalination, multistage distillation, water purification, solar energy, Chemical technology, TP1-1185, Chemical engineering, TP155-156
More Details: Thermally localized solar-driven water evaporation (SWE) in recent years has increasingly been developed due to the potential of cost-efficient freshwater production from small-scale portable devices. In particular, the multistage SWE has attracted much attention as the systems possess mostly a simple foundational structure and high solar-to-thermal conversion output rates, enough to produce freshwater from 1.5 L m−2h−1 (LMH) to 6 LMH. In this study, the currently designed multistage SWE devices were reviewed and examined based on their unique characteristics as well as their performances in freshwater production. The main distinguishing factors in these systems were the condenser staging design and the spectrally selective absorbers either in a form of high solar absorbing material, photovoltaic (PV) cells for water and electricity co-production, and coupling of absorber and solar concentrator. Other elements of the devices involved differences such as the direction of water flow, the number of layers constructed, and the materials used for each layer of the system. The key factors to consider for these systems include the heat and mass transport in the device, solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency, gain output ratio (representing how many times the latent heat has been reused), water production rate/number of stages, and kWh/number of stages. It was evident that most of the studied devices involved slightly different mechanisms and material compositions to draw out higher efficiency rates from the current limitations. The reviewed designs showed the ability to be adopted into small-scale solar desalination allowing for accessibility of sufficient freshwater in needing regions.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2077-0375
Relation: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/13/5/460; https://doaj.org/toc/2077-0375
DOI: 10.3390/membranes13050460
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/465ea1aee1624a6482a9bb466369a78e
Accession Number: edsdoj.465ea1aee1624a6482a9bb466369a78e
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
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