Design and assessment of solar concentrator distillating system using phase change materials (PCM) suitable for desertic weathers

A desertic region always suffers from a lack of fresh water in a large portion of its area. In these areas, available water from swamps or ground water wells is brackish water, and it must be purified or distillated. In this paper, we introduce a simple distillation system accompanied with a concentrating unit. This system was assembled and installed with very low costs. Also, paraffin wax was used in this study as phase change materials to absorb heat from the heated water. The concentrating system, which consists of a dish accompanied by a drum as a storage device and pipes assembly fixed at dish focal, was used to heat brackish water. The conical distiller was fabricated to contain PCM under its base to increase the stored energy. Tests were conducted at Baghdad, Iraqi wintertime 2013-2014. The study declares that this system is suitable to desert weathers with acceptable productivity compared with other existing systems. Adding PCM to the concentrating distillation system increased system working hours, increased concentrating efficiency with about 50.47%, increased system heating efficiency with about 157.8%, and increased system productivity with about 783%. Comparing this study with other Iraqi studies and those in literature gave convincing agreement. This study contains valuable information for researchers, industrials, and investors interested in solar water desalination system investment in Iraq and desertic weather countries.