THERMAL SOLAR ENERGY FOR DESALINATION PURPOSES:
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF DISTILLERS
LOW COST SOLARS FOR THE BRAZILIAN SEMI-ARID
fresh water; renewable energies; purification processes;
transport phenomena.
Solar stills are often recognized as alternatives.
cost-effective technologies for desalination of water with any salt content,
they can be installed in locations with little infrastructure and good light incidence.
Despite the social and environmental advantages linked to the systems, this equipment is
not widespread or even unknown, possibly motivated by its
productivity compared to other standard desalinators. Seeing the advantages
of solar stills as an alternative to the Brazilian semiarid region, this thesis project
aims to research and develop a system specially designed to operate
efficiently under the operating conditions of the region. For this, a
consistent literature review aiming to understand the physical phenomena that
govern the most likely optimization factors, which will be tested on models in
scale to be reproduced on the prototype in full scale. THE
proposed architecture and the materials of each component were carefully
determined, respectively, based on the solar dynamics with which any point
of the planet is illuminated and in the physicochemical properties of building materials,
always respecting the inalienable premises of maximum efficiency, low cost,
chemical safety and environmental sustainability. In this context, the application of the models
solarimetry at simulated latitudes, suggests that the greater efficiency of solar collection, between
simple architecture stills, occurs in two-water systems with 20° of
slope, being, therefore, the basic geometry intended in this study.