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Design methodology for a salt gradient solar pond coupled with an

evaporation pond

Article  in  Solar Energy · May 2002

DOI: 10.1016/S0038-092X(02)00021-X

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 Solar Energy Vol. 72, No. 5, pp. 447–454, 2002
 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd
Pergamon PII: S 0 0 3 8 – 0 9 2 X ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 2 1 – X All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain
0038-092X / 02 / $ - see front matter
www.elsevier.com / locate / solener

DESIGN METHODOLOGY FOR A SALT GRADIENT SOLAR POND

COUPLED WITH AN EVAPORATION POND
, ,
K. R. AGHA† *, S. M. ABUGHRES* ** and A. M. RAMADAN*
*Center for Solar Energy Studies, P.O. Box 12932, Tripoli, Libya
**Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, P.O. Box 13589, Tripoli,
Libya

Received 15 May 2000; revised version accepted 21 November 2001

Communicated by TY NEWELL

Abstract—This paper presents the results of a simple mathematical model for predicting the ratio of the
evaporation pond (EP) area to that of a Salt Gradient Solar Pond (SGSP) area. The EP idea provides a very
attractive method of salt recycling by evaporation, especially in areas of high rates of evaporation and low
rates of rain as it is the case for North Africa. The model is applied for two types of surface water flushing
(fresh water and seawater) under the prevailing conditions of Tripoli-Libya (Lat. 5 32.688N) and for measured
evaporation rates. Under the summer conditions and for the case of surface flushing by fresh water, the area
ratio was estimated at about 0.17. While for the case of using seawater this ratio increases enormously to about
14.4. The time required for the salt concentration to increase from seawater concentration to a high
concentrated brine, which can be injected at the bottom of the solar pond, is also presented. It was estimated
that the time required to increase the salt concentration from 3.5 to 35% is about 120 to 250 days during the
summer months and about 200 to 220 days during the winter months.  2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All
rights reserved.

1. INTRODUCTION centration. The salt gradient zone (NCZ) is the

key to the working of a SGSP. It allows solar
An extensive amount of work on SGSP as a
radiation to penetrate into the storage zone while
cost-effective method of collecting and storing
prohibiting the propagation of long wave radiation
solar energy on large scale is available in the
because water is opaque to infrared radiation. The
literature. SGSP use has demonstrated success in
zone suppresses global convection due to the
many applications such as in space heating
imposed density stratification. It offers an effec-
(Nielsen, 1982), desalination (Tabor, 1975), low
tive conduction barrier because of the low thermal
temperature industrial heating process (Swift and
conductivity of water and the large thickness of
Golding, 1992) and power production (Denius
the NCZ, which averages over 1.0 m.
and Batton, 1984).
The salinity in the UCZ increases due to
A SGSP consists of three distinct zones as
convective mixing (wind, evaporation...) with
shown in Fig. 1. The Upper Convective Zone
NCZ and salt diffusion from the bottom. The
(UCZ) of thickness varying between 0.15 and
annual rate of this natural diffusion of salts from
0.30 m which has a low and nearly uniform salt
high to low concentration was estimated by Tabor
content. Beneath the UCZ is the Non-Convective
(1975) and Weinberger (1964) to be in the range
Zone (NCZ) of thickness that varies between 1.0
of 20–30 kg / m 2 . This rate depends on the thick-
and 1.5 m and has a salt content increasing with
ness of NCZ, the temperature profile and the
depth, and it is therefore a zone of variable
concentration difference between the UCZ and the
properties. The bottom layer is the Lower Con-
LCZ.
vective Zone (LCZ), also called the storage zone,
A common method of maintaining the salt
which has a thickness varies between 1.0 and
gradient is to flush fresh water to the pond surface
2.0 m and has a nearly uniform high salt con-
and inject saturated brine, or salt, at the bottom to
substitute for the salt, that is diffused to the
† surface. In locations like North Africa, where
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Cur-
rent address: Civil Engineering Department, Dalhousie fresh water is very limited, the surface can be
University, Halifax, NS B3J 2X4, Canada. Fax: 11-902- washed by seawater. Also, North Africa has very
494-3108; e-mail: kragha@is.dal.ca high rates of evaporation and very low rates of

447
448 K. R. Agha et al.
precipitation, and therefore recycling of salt by
evaporation is practical and economical.
This, in addition, overcomes the salt shortage
problem and ensures the continuous high per-
formance operation of solar ponds with a mini-
mum environmental damage caused by salt dis-
posal. Based on the above considerations, it is felt
essential to demonstrate the capability of a long
term, closed cycle salt management facility by
evaporative brine concentration, which is the topic
dealt within this paper.
The current study has been performed to de-
termine the relationship between the area ratio
(ratio between the EP area and SGSP area) and
some parameters known to affect the thermal
stability of the SGSP. The relative monthly quan-
tities of flushing water at the surface and those of
high salt concentration to be injected at the
bottom were also presented. For the effective
operation of the system coupling the SGSP and
EP, the transient brine re-concentration phenom-
ena were discussed.
The paper also presents the design, construction
and the method used in the establishment of salt
concentration profile of Tajoura’s Experimental
Solar Pond (TESP).
2. TAJOURA’S EXPERIMENTAL SOLAR POND
(TESP)
TESP is an artificial solar pond located to the
east of Tripoli and is designed and constructed, in
joint cooperation with a Swiss company, with
SGSP surface area of about 830 m 2 and EP area
of about 105 m 2 .
The salt concentration profile is constructed
with three zones, the Upper Convective Zone
(UCZ) of 0.30 m thickness and a salt concen-
tration of about 41 kg / m 3 , the Lower Convective
Zone (LCZ) of 1 m thickness and salt concen-
tration of 260 kg / m 3 . Separating these two zones
is the Non-Convective Zone (NCZ) of 1.2 m
thickness and variable salt concentration. The
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of SGSP/ EP system showing the various mass and energy balance components.
pond, fully equipped with systems to monitor all
relevant parameters, is designed as an experimen-
tal facility enabling the investigation of various
aspects of pond performance.
3. COUPLING THE SGSP AND EP
Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a SGSP
coupled to an EP. To estimate the required
evaporation pond area that will provide the
quantity of salt required for the maintenance of
salt concentration profile in the SGSP, the mass
balance model presented by Alagao et al. (1994)
and Batty et al. (1987) was used in this study.
In order to operate the pond effectively, it is
important to know the time required to substitute
for the removed surface brine (from SGSP) by the
brine that has to be injected at the bottom of the
SGSP. The hourly variation of temperature and
concentration of the brine in the EP is of
paramount importance in accounting for the loss
of energy from the LCZ. An energy balance
model (Newell et al., 1994) was used to predict
this time with a little modification to the terms
representing the sky radiation and evaporation
energy. The model used in this study becomes as
follows:
dT
mCP ] 5 tA ep Is h r A ep [T 2 T sky ]
dt
2 h c A ep [T 2 T a ] 2 aep Efw Lrw
The term on the left-hand side represents the
energy stored in the body of the evaporation pond.
The first term on the right-hand side represents
the solar energy penetrating the surface of the
evaporation pond. The last three terms represent
the energy losses by radiation, convection and
evaporation, respectively.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The mathematical model described above was
applied by using the prevailing weather conditions
 Design methodology for a salt gradient solar pond coupled with an evaporation pond
Fig. 2. Monthly average measured weather data for Tripoli-Libya Lat. (32.688N) over 30-year period (1961–1990).
in Tripoli-Libya (Lat. 32.688N) shown in Fig. 2,
averaged over a 30-year period (1961–1990). Fig.
2 clearly shows the high rates of net evaporation
and therefore the practical viability of evaporation
ponds, also compares the measured evaporation
rates with those calculated.
Fig. 3a and b show the effect of ambient air
temperature on the evaporation rates from both
fresh water and evaporation pond water (con-
centration 26%), respectively; for various values
of surface water temperatures. It is shown that as
the ambient air temperature increases, the evapo-
ration rates increase. This is quite obvious since
the air temperature at constant relative humidity
works as a driving force for evaporation. The
effect could be further manifested by the plots of
the resulting evaporation rates for different sur-
face water temperatures, as shown on the same
diagram. Again, the higher the water temperature,
the higher the evaporation rate. Changes in am-
bient air temperature does not seem to affect the
value of aep which represents the ratio of evapora-
tion from the evaporation pond to that from fresh
water. This is attributed to the fact that the
evaporation pond has a very high salt content
(26%).
Owing to the intermittent nature of solar
energy, solar energy systems will have to be sized
according to a pre-specified time. For this pur-
pose, Table 1 shows the required area ratios under
the prevailing conditions in Tripoli for different
design conditions and both types of surface water
449
flushing. The winter design was excluded because
of its low rate of net evaporation † from the
evaporation pond. These results show that large
area evaporation ponds are needed if seawater is
used for surface flushing, as higher quantities of
seawater are required to wash the surface of the
SGSP compared with those quantities of fresh
water. It can also be seen that the summer design
conditions resulted in the smallest area ratio, due
to the high rates of net evaporation during the
season as depicted in Fig. 2.
A further investigation of the effect of the
prevailing conditions at the design stage for
various cases is shown in Fig. 4. These figures
show a graphical presentation of the effect of
various parameters on the area ratio for Summer,
Autumn, and Spring, respectively. The parameters
analyzed in the figure are the net evaporation
from the evaporation pond, the type of water used
for surface flushing and the rate of salt diffusion.
In the case of fresh water surface flushing, the
resulting evaporation does not contribute to the
increase of concentration in the evaporation.
Similar results are obtained for Summer, Autumn
and Spring designs as shown in Fig. 4a–c,
respectively, when fresh water is used for surface
flushing. In other words, in the case of fresh water
surface flushing, the quantity of water evaporated
is equal to the decrease in the quantity of brine
†
Net evaporation rate is defined as the evaporation rate minus
the precipitation rate.
450 K. R. Agha et al.

Fig. 3. (a) The effect of ambient air temperature of Efw for different surface temperatures: (b) The effect of ambient air
temperature on aep for different surface temperatures.

flushed with a corresponding change in salt
concentration from C2 to C3.
4.1. Applying the model to TESP
As mentioned earlier, for the purpose of high
performance operation of solar ponds, it is im-
portant to keep the pond thermally stable. This
requires the injection of high salt concentration
brine at the bottom to compensate for the natural
diffusion of salts upwards, it also requires wash-
ing the surface with low concentration water to
Table 1. Estimated area ratios under different design parame-
ters
Area ratio, A r
Fresh water
Spring 0.65
Summer 0.17
Autumn 0.32
TESP Project 0.13 ‘Constructed’
replace evaporation losses and flush away the salt
diffusing to the surface from the concentrated
brines below.
Fig. 5a shows the predicted quantity of salt
provided by the EP each month as compared to
that required by the SGSP (A SP 5830 m 2 ) under
the prevailing conditions, for different design
scenarios with measured evaporation rates for the
case of fresh water surface flushing. Fig. 5b
compares the same quantities when seawater is
used for surface flushing.
Fig. 6 shows monthly quantities of salt that can
be provided by the constructed evaporation pond
(105 m 2 ) and (1.5 m) depth at the TESP project
compared with that required by the SGSP
Seawater (830 m 2 ). It is clearly shown that the EP area was
rather underestimated even if fresh water is used
28.40
14.40 for surface flushing. The quantity of salt required
20.20 by SGSP to maintain its salt concentration profile
was estimated at about 1150 kg / month
 Design methodology for a salt gradient solar pond coupled with an evaporation pond 451

Fig. 4. The variation of Area ratio (A r ) with net evaporation rate from EP for both types of surface water flushing and different
salt transport rates.

(16.6 kg / m 2 –year), which could be under-esti-
mated compared to previous studies (Alagao et
al., 1994; Swift and Golding, 1992).
Fig. 7 shows the quantity of water in
(m 3 / month) required for surface flushing using
fresh water and seawater flushing with measured
evaporation rates. This graph clearly shows the
large quantities of flushing water required during
the summer, which is attributed to the high rates
of evaporation in the summer season. It also
shows the big differences between the quantities
required for fresh water flushing and that for
seawater flushing. This comes as a result of the
fact that in addition to replacing the evaporation
losses, washing the surface is expected to flush
away salt diffusing to the surface from the
concentrated brines below.
Fig. 8 shows the required time for the con-
centration in an EP to reach (35%) starting from
sea water (3.5%) under different prevailing con-
ditions. It is clearly shown that the shortest period
for the increase of concentration occurs during the
452 K. R. Agha et al.

Fig. 5. Mass of salt provided by the EP as compared to that required by the SGSP of TESP (A SP 5830 m 2 ) under different
scenarios.

summer months. This is attributed to the high net as shown in Fig. 9 could further manifest the
evaporation rates in the summer season. brine re-concentration phenomena. The figure also
Presenting the daily amounts of concentration shows the daily decrease in brine depth that

Fig. 6. Mass of salt provided and required by the TESP (Constructed pond), It should be noted that for the case of seawater
surface flushing the real quantity of salt is equal to the shown values divided by ten. (A ep 5105 m 2 , Depth51.5 m)
(A sp 5830 m 2 ).
 Design methodology for a salt gradient solar pond coupled with an evaporation pond 453

Fig. 7. The quantity of water required for surface flushing in (m 3 / month) for TESP.

Fig. 8. The time required (in days) to increase the salt concentration from seawater concentration (3.5%) to (35%) for different
starting months for the TESP, and the temperature of brine and ambient at the last day.

corresponds to the daily increase in concentration.
It should be noted that the results given in Figs. 8
and 9 are based on the assumption that no
withdrawal or feeding to EP has occurred once
it’s started.
In order to operate the SGSP effectively and
minimize the energy losses during the high con-
centration injection, it is important to use the
highest possible temperature for the brine to be
injected. Fig. 10 is constructed for this purpose, it
shows the hourly temperature variation of the
high concentration brine (at the last day of
different starting months). It can be seen from this
figure that the maximum temperature of the
concentrated brine occurs at about (2:30 p.m.) of
the last day, which is the preferred time to inject
the concentrated brine from EP to SGSP.
5. CONCLUSIONS
A mathematical model describing the relation-
ships between the evaporation pond and the salt

Fig. 9. The daily variation of brine concentration and depth in the evaporation pond of TESP.
 454 K. R. Agha et al.

Fig. 10. The temperature variation of the available high concentration brine (35%) at the last day of different starting months for
TESP.

gradient solar pond with the associated stability and from EP (m / period)
hr Radiative heat transfer coefficient (W/
parameters has been presented.
m 2 8C)
Considering the results of this model for each hc Convective heat transfer coefficient (W/
set of circumstances, the following conclusions m 2 8C)
were drawn: Isolar,sp Isolar,ep Incident solar radiation on the surface of
1. Salt re-concentration by evaporation can be an the solar pond and that of EP
L Latent heat of vaporization
effective method of providing salt to the main
M Mass of brine to be evaporated (kg)
solar ponds. Q1, Q2 & Q 3 Quantities of water used for surface
2. The time required to increase the salt con- flushing, over flow to the EP, and satu-
centration from seawater (3.5–35%) was esti- rated brine injection to the SGSP (m 3 /
mated to be about 120–250 days during the period)
R sp , R ep Precipitation rates, into solar pond, into
summer months and about 200–220 days
evaporation pond (m / period)
during the winter months. SGSP Salt gradient solar pond
3. The salt concentration of water used for sur- ST Salt transport (kg / m 2 —period)
face flushing significantly affects the area TESP Tajoura’s experimental solar pond
ratios and the quantities of water used for T Temperature (8C)
T Time (period)
surface flushing.
T a ,T sky Ambient air temperature and sky tem-
4. The best time for high concentration brine perature (8C)
injection to the SGSP was estimated at about aep Ratio of evaporation from EP to that
(2:30 p.m.) to insure minimum thermal energy from fresh water (aep 5 Eep /Efw )
losses from the storage zone. rw Density of fresh water
5. Because of the low rates of net evaporation t Transmissivity of water surface

during the winter season, a scheme must be

devised to collect high concentrated brines REFERENCES
during the summer season and store it for later
Alagao F. B., Akbarzadeh A. and Johnston P. W. (1994) The
use in winter. design, construction, and initial operation of a closed cycle,
6. The model has demonstrated that the con- Salt Gradient Solar Pond. Solar Energy 53(4), 343–351.
structed evaporation pond of TESP is under- Batty J. C., Paul Riley J. and Panahi Z. (1987) A water
requirement model for salt gradient solar pond. Solar
sized. Energy 39(6), 483–489.
Denius, M. and Batton, W. (1984) A solar pond organic
rankine cycle power generating system. ASME Paper 84-
WA / SOL-15.
NOMENCLATURE Newell T. A. et al. (1994) Characteristics of a solar pond brine
re-concentration system. ASME J Solar Energy 116, 69–73.
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space heating. Sharing the Sun 5, 169–182.
Ar Area ratio (A r 5 A ep /A sp )
Swift A. and Golding P. (1992) Topics in gradient mainte-
Cp Specific heat of brine (kJ / kg 8C) nance and salt recycling in an operational solar pond. ASME
C 1 ,C 2 & C 3 Brine concentrations of Q 1 , Q 2 & Q 3 J. Solar Energy 114, 62–69.
(kg salt / m 3 ) Tabor H. (1975) Solar ponds as heat source for low tempera-
EP Evaporation pond ture multi effect distillation plants. Desalination 17, 289–
Efw , Esp , Eep Evap. rates, from fresh water, from SP, 302.

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