Test results from a solar boiler for saline water distillation

• Published in: Desalination 1981-01, Vol.39 (1-3), p.63-70
• Main Authors: Jundi, Ziad M., Tleimat, Badawi W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: boilers; desalination; distillation; solar energy
• ISSN: 0011-9164; 1873-4464
• DOI: 10.1016/S0011-9164(00)86109-3

In this paper the performance of a low temperature, 50–70 C, solar boiler is presented. The boiler consisted of a double-glazed flat-plate solar collector, a flash chamber, a water cooled surface condenser, a circulating pump, and a temperature-controlled preheater to simulate constant temperature thermal storage. Data were obtained on this boiler from October 1980 to May 1981. During this period, the instantaneous total incident solar radiation at noon, as measured by a pyranometer in the plane of the collector ranged from 0.7 to 1.0 kWm -2 and the diurnal total incident solar radiation ranged from 13 to 29 MJ m -2day -1. At these conditions the instantaneous efficiency of the collector ranged from 30 to 55 percent while the diurnal efficiency ranged from 20 to 44 percent. The results show that the performance of the solar collector was the dominant factor in determining the performance of this boiler. They also show that low temperature steam, 50 to 70 C, from such boilers can be produced to drive multieffect distillation systems using high performance evaporators for desalting saline water.