Experimental analysis of two stage solar still integrated with thermal storage based solar collector using nano-enhanced phase change materials

Water management and energy consumption is the main problem in today’s world. Issues like water management, water recycling, and energy availability are the main issues in today’s world. The evacuated tube solar collector (ETSC) is coupled with the thermal energy storage (TES) using pure paraffin wax and nano-enhanced phase change materials (NEPCM) based desalination unit. There are two water tanks in this setup and integrated with ETSC. The two-phase system can double the quantity of water. The phase change materials (PCM) section is filled in two phases: first, it is filled with pure paraffin wax, and second, it is filled with NEPCM (paraffin wax/Al 2 O 3 ). The water tank can be heated to between 54 and 128 °C with this temperature. The freshwater yield increases up to 60.09 % by using NEPCM as compared to pure paraffin wax in the TES of the desalination unit. The energy efficiency enhancement of 49.91 % is found using the NEPCM as compared to pure paraffin wax in TES. This system, if installed in any facility, can reduce the cost of a water purification system as well as the energy required or electricity required for reverse osmosis (RO) purification.