Exergy, economic and enviro-economic analysis of single slope finned solar still with nano enhanced PCM

Abstract

Solar desalination is an eco-friendly technique for turning brackish water into fresh water. This study evaluated the performance of a single basin solar still utilizing different materials and configurations to assess their economic and environmental viability. The solar stills have been tested in four different cases: conventional solar still (CSS) with 2 cm water depth in the basin, solar still with fins only (SSWF), solar still with fins and phase change material (PCM), and solar still with fins and PCM enhanced with NiO2 nanoparticles (SSWF+Nano PCM). The results indicated that the SSWF+Nano PCM configuration outperformed the others, exhibiting energy and exergy improvements of 52.89% and 27.63%, respectively, compared to CSS. Additionally, environmental-economic analysis revealed that SSWF+Nano PCM had lower net CO2 emissions and higher carbon credits earned compared to CSS. Moreover, the cost of production and payback period for SSWF+Nano PCM are found to be more favourable compared to the other configurations