Enhanced Solar Desalination Using Natural Dolomite-Integrated PCM and MWCN Thermal Storage: An Experimental Study

Systems for solar desalination provide a practical and environmentally friendly way to turn salty or polluted water into drinkable water. Three configurations are experimentally investigated in this study: a traditional solar desalination system, a system integrated with a thermal energy storage unit (TESU) based on phase change material (PCM), Multi wall Carbon nano particle were mixed with PCM at 1% of total volume of the PCM and a system that incorporates powdered natural dolomite into the PCM-based TESU. Each of the four configurations was created, tested simultaneously, and thoroughly examined. In comparison to the traditional system, the experimental findings showed that the adoption of PCM-based TESUs increased daily cumulative water output by 11.41%, 14.8% with addition of MWCNT and the addition of dolomite powder further increased productivity by 18.60%. Furthermore, the energy efficiency increased by16.1% with PCM, PCM with MWCNT is increased by 17.43% and 18.18% with the addition of dolomite powder and the exergy efficiency from 1.26%, 1.52% to 1.78% with the addition of dolomite powder.