VIVA-Tech International Journal for Research and Innovation Volume 1, Issue 3 (2020)

ISSN(Online): 2581-7280 Article No. 8

PP 1-5

Portable Solar Desalination Plant

Vinayak Rai1 Manish Tambat2 Musavvir Shaikh3 Shalin Shah4
Suneet Mehta5
1
(Mechanical Engineering Department, VIVA Institute of Technology, India)

Abstract: Desalination is a process of converting sea water into fresh water which can be used by people for
their daily uses. Man has always looked for oceans to enjoy the benefit of water. Some of the early discoveries
of it is by Aristotle and others. The people of that time came up with distillation and filtration using soil deposits
to obtain drinking water from the sea. After that many methods came of desalination like reverse osmosis, etc.
and were used and thermal energy method was found cheapest and hence we came to know that we can use this
processing a portable desalination plant. The potential of thermal energy is huge all around the world and it
has been used in various processes all around. It is used for desalination process which will cure the problem of
scarcity of water in the world and mostly in the water drought regions in India. This project is focused on
making fresh water from sea water in the cheapest price available and in very small setup.

Keywords – Desalination, Thermal energy, Portable, Scarcity, Cheapest

1. INTRODUCTION
The Project work presented in this report is based on implementation of portable solar desalination
process to decrease the shortage of fresh water. Fresh water resources are going down as the need of water is
increasing.
The best way to overcome this problem is to use solar energy for desalination The UNEP said in 2012
that 1/3 of the world’s population have fresh water resources, while the rest will suffer water shortage by year
2025.According to WHO more than 1.6 billion people in the world will have polluted drinking water. There are
still large population around the world who have no availability of drinking water and fresh water is also not
distributed geographically. The best thing to do gain some fresh water is to desalinate sea water and convert that
into fresh water.

2. OBJECTIVES
1. To create freshwater from sea water by thermal desalination process.
2. To remove salt from it
3. To extract maximum amount of fresh water from available sea water.
4. To deposit brine with less harm to environment.
5. To design a cost-effective system.

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VIVA-Tech International Journal for Research and Innovation Volume 1, Issue 3 (2020)
ISSN(Online): 2581-7280 Article No. 8
PP 1-5

3. RELATED WORKS
Muhammad Abbas et. al. [1] They proposed a method of brackish water desalination using solar energy.
The required heat energy for this plant was brought from parabolic trough collector. They analyzed this on mat
lab software and provided with the solution..

Ammar Al Muhairi et. al. [2] They analyzed a method and assessed the impact of desalination plant
discharges in the Arabian Gulf. In this we find out of brine that it has a certain impact on surrounding water.

Avantika Basu and Bhaskar Kumar [7] developed solar and ocean thermal energy operated hi-tech ship
having desalination facilities. This ships also saves extinct fossil fuels through non-conventional energy sources.
They also use ocean water for the desalination procedure and also provide electricity for ships.

Mohammed Ghazi [4] presents a steady state modeling and analysis of four effects pilot unit of seawater
desalination using thermal solar energy as a heat source and vertical tubes falling film evaporators type. It also
can be modified

Daniel Butcher et. al. [5] studied on water desalination with evaporation from environmentally friendly
waste heat sources. Thermal desalination is one way but they developed a new way of desalination through waste
heat resources like from gas power stations or from A.C, etc.

Ihsanullah et. al. [3] studied about the recent developments in solar desalination and found out the use of
solar energy for desalination not only has promising prospects, but is also a technically viable option to cater for
the stressing energy and water issues. Solar energy powered installations are currently not comparable with
conventional fossil fuel installations due to the high cost of solar collector/PV panels

Mahmoud Shatat et. al. [6] studied about various thermal desalination process and concluded that the
desalination systems can be operated by the use of conventional and renewable energy sources and the vast
majority of desalination plants over the world are currently operated by fossil fuel instead of renewable energy
due to technical and economic barriers.

4. PROPOSED SYSTEM
In order to overcome the scarcity of water, we have come to a solution of making thermal water
desalination plant. Reviewing of various research papers, ideas from GOOGLE & some basic books of thermal
Engineering we are planning to make the same. As we all know that when water is heated it is converted into
vapor and it evaporates. Thus our planning is to collect that vapor via pipe and convert it into water which can be
used for drinking purpose.

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VIVA-Tech International Journal for Research and Innovation Volume 1, Issue 3 (2020)
ISSN(Online): 2581-7280 Article No. 8
PP 1-5

Desalination process can be implemented using following steps;

Construction: Main parts of Portable Water Desalination plant are Boiler, Solar Parabolic Reflector, Heat
Exchanger and a pump. As unit will be of medium size weight of the same will be approximate 30kg

The process starts like this:

1. We pump the sea water into the Boiler via Heat Exchanger, thus to remove the dirt particles a filter is
installed which remove all the contaminants from the sea water. Then the water will come into the boiler
for heating. Heating will be done by the rays of the sun. An parabolic solar reflector is placed beside the
boiler. This reflector will focus the sun rays which are parallel to the axis of the reflector to a central
point on the boiler.

2. When this rays will be focused on that central point, it will heat the water and evaporation will start.
After evaporation vapor will come out of the water which will be collected in a collector. Now there will
be a one way valve fitted in the boiler in the way where water will first come into the boiler from tank.

3. One way valve will stop vapor to get into that pipe and then vapor will go into other pipe. It also does
not allow external air to come into the boiler which maintains vacuum inside the boiler .During the flow
of the vapor into this, pipe heat will be exchanged between the vapor and the saline water. Now when
the vapor temperature will decrease it will turn into droplets of water which will be further collected in
the collector.

4. Treatment of brine

The byproduct that we will get after this process will be brine and using of this is also a big process.
Brine is basically used as a preservative in meat packaging and pickling. In refrigeration and air conditioning brine
is used as a heat transfer media because of their low freezing temperature or as vapor absorbing agents because
of their low vapor pressure. So it will be our choice whether to give brine to the industries or privately sell it.

5. CALCULATIONS

1. PUMP

Discharge required (Q) = 5lit/min

Q= 8.33x10-5 m3/sec

= 8.33 x 10-5 x 1050kg/sec

= 0.0874 kg/sec

g= 9.81 m/sec2 , h = 12m

Power (P) = Q x g x h

= 0.0874 x 9.81 x 12

= 10.28 watt

Assuming 50% mechanical efficiency,

Power = 20 watt

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VIVA-Tech International Journal for Research and Innovation Volume 1, Issue 3 (2020)
ISSN(Online): 2581-7280 Article No. 8
PP 1-5

2. HEAT EXCHANGER

Thermal conductivity of (Cu) = 385 w/mk

Length of copper tube in Heat Exchanger = 4 x 15 x π

=1.88 m

Area of copper tube exposing the saline water

A=2xπxrxl

= 2 x π x 0.005 x 1.88………..…………D = 0.01m & l = 1.88 r

= 0.059 m2

Temperature of vapour inside copper tube (T1) = 373 K

Temperature of Saline water (T2) = 303 K

Heat transfer in Heat exchanger (Q) = K x A x ∆T/ L

=385 x 0.059 x 70 / 1.88

=846.65 watt

3. SOLAR PARABOLIC REFLECTOR

Latent heat of water = 2260 kJ/kg

Sp. heat of water = 4.21 kJ/kg℃

Mass of water = 1kg

Heat required to raise temp of water to boiling point (Q) = mCp ∆𝑇

=1 x 4.21 x 73

= 304 kJ

Total heat = SH + LH

= 304 + 2260

= 2564 kJ ≅ 2600 kJ

We require 2600 kJ in 15

minutes.

= 2.88≅ 3𝑘𝑤

4. PRESSURE GAUGE

Maximum Pressure inside the boiler should be below 1.40 kg/cm2

Therefore, we select the pressure gauge of range between

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VIVA-Tech International Journal for Research and Innovation Volume 1, Issue 3 (2020)
ISSN(Online): 2581-7280 Article No. 8
PP 1-5

6. ANALYSIS AND ADVANTAGES

The proposed system has many advantages

1. A simple way to get fresh water.

2. System is cheap, so poor people can afford.

3. The system is portable, so we can take it anywhere.

7. CONCLUSION
The literature represented in this study describes the importance of fresh water in our life. Today thermal
desalination solves all the water scarcity problems in the world. It solves all the problems related to water for the
people.
Portable water is a rare thing in some areas. While conventional techniques can meet every demand of
water. But conventional desalination processes are expensive to operate which prevent their utilization in remote
areas. With the increase in cost of energy and later it will be unavailable, there is a need for cheap desalination
system that is suited for small application.
Solar desalination can be the method to decrease the water shortage. Solar energy with desalination
process can have a good impact and have a reliable source for portable water.

REFERENCES
[1] Muhammad Abbas , et.al., ‘Thermal study of Brackish waste desalination process using solar energy’,IEEE ,4(2017)

[2] Ammar Al Muhairi et.al., ‘Exploring the potential of MODIS visible and thermal channels in monitoring and
assessing the impact of desalination plant discharge in arabian gulf’, IEEE,2(2009) Ayantika Basu ET.AL., ‘Solar
and ocean thermal energy operated hi tech ship having passenger safety and desalination facility’,IEEE,1(2017)

[3] Ihsanullah et.al., ‘Recent development in solar thermal desalination technologies’, IEEE,2(2018)

[4] Mohammad Ghazi et.al., ‘Steady-State analysis of four effect evaporation desalination process using thermal solar
energy, IEEE,5(2016)

[5] Daniel Butcher, et.al., ‘Water desalination with evaporation from environment friendly waste heat
source,UPEC,2011

[6] Mahmoud Shatat, et.al, “Water desalination technologies utilizing conventional and renewable resources”,
Desalination, Volume 9, 1 March 2014, Pages 1-19

[7] Avantika Basu, et.al, ‘ Solar and ocean thermal energy operated hi-tech ship having passenger safety and
desalination facilities’ IEEE (2017)

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