Study of the energetic, exergetic, and thermal balances of a solar distillation unit in comparison with a conventional system during the distillation of rosemary leaves
2022
The solar energy produced by Scheffler parabola (10 m²) is not fully exploited by the solar distillation system of aromatic and medicinal plants. In this work, the optical losses in the primary and secondary reflectors, and the thermal losses at each part of this system (solar still, steam line, condenser) were determined. A thermal energetic and exergetic analysis were also performed for a solar distillation system of rosemary leaves. For average intensity radiation of 849.1W/m² and 6 Kg of rosemary leaves during 4 h of distillation, exergy and optical efficiencies of the system achieved up to 26.62% and 50.97%, respectively. The thermal efficiency of the solar still, steam line, and condenser is about 94.80%, 94.30%, and 87.76%, respectively. The essential oil yield per unit of consumed energy and the total efficiency of the solar distillation system, taking into account the heat losses in the solar still, steam line, and condenser, as well as the optical losses in the two reflectors, is 6.18 mL/ kWh and 40.00%, respectively. The efficiency can be as high as 42.42 % if the steam line is insulated. Moreover, the comparison between the solar steam distillation and conventional steam distillation shows that solar distillation is much more efficient since it gives better results and especially it avoids the emission of 12.10 kg of CO₂ during extraction.
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