Desalination 539 (2022) 115970

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Desalination
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/desal

Thermodynamic and economic analysis of a solar hydroponic planting

system with multi-stage interfacial distillation units
Lu Wang a, Haiying Cheng a, Gang Wu b, Qian He a, Hongfei Zheng a, *
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
b
Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Beijing 100081, China

H I G H L I G H T S

• A solar hydroponic planting system with interfacial distillation was proposed.

• Optical and thermal losses of the system were analyzed.
• The measured water productivity of the four-stage system was 9.12 kg/m2/day.
• The GOR of the ten-stage system could reach 2.64 at 1000 W/m2.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The shortage of irrigation with clean water is one of the major factors restricting grain production. To provide
Solar desalination sufficient irrigation water for crops via utilizing the solar distillation process, a solar hydroponic planting system
Multi-stage interfacial distillation combined with multi-stage interfacial distillation units is proposed in this work, and its water production per­
Seawater irrigation
formance and economy are evaluated. The system adopts a tubeless design to reduce irrigation costs, and the
Thermodynamic analysis
collected solar energy can be reused many times to distillate seawater for directly irrigating crops. An experi­
mental prototype with four-stage desalination units was tested in outdoor weather. According to the energy and
mass transfer relation of each component, a thermodynamic model is established, and its correctness is verified
by experimental data. Through the model, the temperature, water production, evaporation efficiency, and GOR
(gain output ratio) of the system are evaluated, and the optical and thermal losses are investigated in detail.
Results indicate that with the increase of irradiation and the decrease of interlayer spacing, the evaporation
efficiency and GOR could be significantly improved. Under the condition of 1000 W/m2 irradiation, the GOR of
the ten-stage system can reach 2.64, and the evaporation efficiency of the first-stage desalination unit achieves
84.2 %. Additionally, through the established model, the annual water production of the system under the
weather conditions is predicted in different cities in China, and the water production cost is estimated to be 0.013
$/L in Guangzhou City. This study provides a potential solution to alleviate the shortage of irrigation water in
offshore areas.

to achieve sustainable development [2,3].

Agricultural irrigation consumes 70 % of fresh water annually,
1. Introduction
mainly from lakes and groundwater [4]. However, over exploitation of
groundwater will cause irreversible damage to hydrology and environ­
The rapid advancement of industrialization and the explosive growth
ment, such as soil salinization, seawater intrusion, salt tide and seawater
of population have led to the immediate limit of the world's energy
backflow [5]. Seawater desalination and wastewater purification are
consumption, fresh water and food. It is estimated that by 2050, the
reliable solutions to agricultural water demand, especially in arid
world needs to consume twice as much energy as it currently does, and
coastal areas [6]. Reverse osmosis desalination technology is a com­
the requirement for freshwater and food will increase by more than 50 %
mercial seawater desalination technology with low energy consumption
[1]. How to realize the synergistic utilization of energy and water re­
[7]. However, its high initial construction cost discourages households
sources and combine them with agricultural production is a crucial way

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: hongfeizh@bit.edu.cn (H. Zheng).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2022.115970
Received 25 May 2022; Received in revised form 21 June 2022; Accepted 4 July 2022
Available online 22 July 2022
0011-9164/© 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V.
L. Wang et al. Desalination 539 (2022) 115970

Nomenclature Greek symbols

α absorptivity
A area (m2) δ distance
C specific heat capacity (J/kg/K) ε emissivity
CPL cost per water liter ($/L) η efficiency
D diffusion coefficient (m2/s) λ thermal conductivity
F angular coefficient ρ reflectivity
h heat transfer coefficient (W/m2/K) σ Stefan-Boltzmann constant
hfg latent heat of vapor (J/g) τ transmissivity
i the number of stage(i = 1,2,3…n)
HDH humidification and dehumidification Subscripts
I solar irradiation (W/m2) abs solar absorber
me evaporation rate (g/m2/h) amb ambient
Map annual water production (kg/a) ave average value
Mf freshwater yield (g) ca concentrating cavity air
Patm atmospheric pressure (Pa) cs feed cold seawater
Ps vapor partial pressure (Pa) cd condenser
PMMA polymethyl methacrylate cond conduction
Pr Prandtl number conv convection
Q heat quantity (W) d distillation unit
Ra Rayleigh number eva evaporator
Rv specific gas constant of vapor (J/kg/K) fl Fresnel lens
SHP solar hydroponic planting ha heating cavity air
t working time (s) r radiation
T temperature (◦ C) s absorbed solar heat
u wind speed (m/s) tp transparent plate
ys lifetime (a)

in poor areas; on the other hand, the carbon emissions brought by the
electric-driven process are not suitable for the development of green
sustainable agriculture. Therefore, some seawater greenhouses that can
directly use solar energy for desalination have been proposed. For
instance, Ahmadinik et al. [8] introduced a seawater greenhouse
coupled with a solar evaporation pond. The humid air formed by the
evaporation pond was used to adjust the humidity inside the greenhouse
and condensed into fresh water at the outlet. Rabhy et al. [9] installed
multiple transparent stills on top of the greenhouse, which could be
powered by excess solar energy to produce fresh water. The system had a
maximum 618.2 ml yield per day in August, which could meet 37.5 % of
the greenhouse water demand. Mahmood et al. [10] combined humid­
ification and dehumidification (HDH) technology, absorption cooling
system and thermal energy storage system to maintain optimal humidity
and temperature in the greenhouse. Under the greenhouse area of 135
m2, the system could reach a 5.2 m3 water yield and 27 % solar thermal
efficiency.
In addition, the reuse of agricultural wastewater is of vital impor­
tance. Untreated pesticides in agricultural wastewater can be released
into soil and transferred to plants, which pollutes the soil environment
and further damages human health. Mamouri et al. [11] introduced a
HDH solar greenhouse with a spectral splitter on the roof. The visible
band of sunlight was used for crop growth, and the infrared band was
absorbed by the collector to heat agricultural wastewater. Through
simulation analysis, the greenhouse could meet 85 % of the water con­
sumption required for tomato growth.
However, the traditional solar desalination equipment has low solar
thermal efficiency due to large heat loss. To meet the needs of crop
growth, it is often necessary to increase the evaporation area or install
large-scale solar collector to improve the evaporation temperature,
which is not applicable in some areas with short land areas [12].
Therefore, to improve energy utilization efficiency, some multi-stage
desalination devices that can utilize the latent heat of vapor condensa­
tion several times have been proposed. Bhowmick and Kundu [13]
proposed a two-effect HDH desalination system with an absorption
cooling device. Under the optimum operating conditions, the coefficient
of performance (COP) was 1.2474 and GOR (gain output ratio) was 2.02.
Rahimi and Hatamipour [14] reported a three-stage HDH system using a
vacuum pump to assist pressure reduction. The results indicated that the
system could obtain the maximum water yield of 1.8 kg/h/m2. Ghala­
vand et al. [15] designed a three-stage HDH system for dehumidification
and heating under high pressure. Theoretical calculations showed that
higher inlet water temperature and lower water-gas mass flow ratio can
significantly improve the system performance.
Improved multi-stage solar stills have also been extensively investi­
gated. A multi-stage trough distiller coupled with two flat plate solar
collectors was reported by Reddy et al. [16]. They found that the effect
of parallel solar collectors is better than that of series solar collectors.
Under the optimum design conditions, the maximum thermal efficiency
of the 4-stage distiller reached 81.17 %. Yan et al. [17] experimentally
studied a two-effect nested tubular solar still under vacuum conditions.
It was found that the temperature difference inside the system decreased
with the increase of pressure during distillation. At a low pressure of 20
kPa and a seawater temperature of 62 ◦ C, the coefficient of performance
achieved 1.27. Bait et al. [18] have conducted a numerical simulation on
a stacked 4-stage solar still under the Batna climatic conditions. The
obtained yield and annual water production cost were 8.88 kg/day and
0.05 $/L, respectively. Xie et al. [19] presented a multi-effect solar still
with a vertically corrugated surface and fitted an empirical correlation
for the mass transfer coefficient.
Furthermore, the interfacial solar still driven by thermal-localized
has shown sufficient attractiveness in recent years [20]. The interfa­
cial evaporation technique has been widely applied to salt crystalliza­
tion [21], seawater desalination [22], sterilization [23], PV cooling
[24], and other fields. Interfacial distillation replaces the traditional
basin seawater with a thin seawater film, which greatly reduces the heat
capacity of the evaporation process. This technology utilizes the capil­
lary force of the water-absorbing material to enable passive water sup­
ply, thus eliminating the need for mechanical pumps. As a result,
compared with multi-effect HDH or solar still technologies, solar multi-

2
L. Wang et al. Desalination 539 (2022) 115970

stage interfacial distillation system has a more compact structure and seawater desalination, and hydroponic cultivation. The proposed
less thermal inertia. Zhang et al. [25] established a theoretical frame­ planting system is mainly comprised of a Fresnel lens concentrator,
work to evaluate the heat and mass transfer mechanism of multi-stage several vertical desalination units, and two implants on both sides. Fig. 2
interfacial distillation process. The effects of stages and geometric di­ shows a three-dimensional schematic of the concentrating and multi-
mensions on the distiller efficiency were analyzed. Wang et al. [26] stage distillation components.
proposed a multi-stage floating interface distiller powered by a para­ The system works as follows: In sunny weather, the sunlight
bolic concentrator. The still obtained a 2.31 GOR under 900 W/m2 collected by the Fresnel lens passes through the transparent plate and
irradiation. Huang et al. [27] presented a concentric expansion thermal then is reflected by the secondary reflector to the absorber surface. The
concentration distiller. The outdoor test results showed that the ob­ transparent plate can effectively obstruct the heat loss of the absorber
tained fresh water was 3.9 kg/m2 when the average solar irradiation was and environment. The absorber converts solar light energy into heat
415 W/m2. Moreover, Yang et al. [28] discussed a multi-stage interfacial energy and transmits the heat to the evaporator. The evaporator uses an
still driven by photovoltaic waste heat. Capillary wicks were used as interface hydrophilic material to take in seawater from below to form
evaporators and condensers, and the evaporated salt crystallized at the interfacial evaporation. The vapor diffuses to the condensing plate under
edge of the capillary wicks. Under one solar intensity, the water pro­ the action of the temperature difference and concentration difference.
duction and output power of the five-stage still were observed to be 1.17 When liquefaction occurs, the vapor releases latent heat to heat the next-
kg/h/m2 and 97 W/m2, respectively. stage evaporator. The above process can be repeated many times until
In this study, a hydroponic planting system using concentrated multi-
stage interfacial distillation process for direct irrigation is proposed, and
its energy conversion mechanism is investigated in detail. The proposed
planting system has the following characteristics: (1) The system can
passively suck up seawater or agricultural wastewater for circulating
distillation, and the produced freshwater is directly transmitted to the
crop roof without other electric irrigation equipment, which reduces the
planting cost and simplifies the operation process; (2) The vertically
installed multiple desalination structure can save more planting area,
and ensure the water demand for crops; (3) The system does not need to
rely on the soil environment, and is more suitable for distributed
application in coastal or island areas with land shortage. Firstly, an
experimental prototype is built to test its water production reliability.
Then a thermodynamic model is established to evaluate the energy
utilization efficiency of the system's concentration and distillation pro­
cess. Based on this model, the annual water production performance of
the system under the weather conditions of Guangzhou, Shanghai and
Beijing in China is predicted. Finally, an economic evaluation is carried
out and a comparison is made with recent desalination systems.

2. System description

2.1. Working principle

Fig. 1 depicts the schematic of the solar hydroponic planting (SHP)

system, which realizes the whole process of solar concentration, Fig. 2. 3D schematic of the concentrating and distillation components.

  




   
1-Fresnel lens concentrator; 2-Condenser; 3-Transparent plate; 4-Evaporator; 5-Planting basket;
6-Absorber; 7-Seawater tank; 8-Secondary reflector; 9-Freshwater channel; 10-Implant cavity

Fig. 1. Schematic of the solar hydroponic planting system.

3
L. Wang et al. Desalination 539 (2022) 115970

the final condenser dissipates heat into the ambient. The condensed temperatures of transparent plate and Fresnel lens; Atp is the transparent
fresh water drops down into the channel and then is collected into the plate area; εfl and εtp are the emissivity of Fresnel lens and transmitting
planting cavity and assimilated by the crop roots. After a cultivation plate, respectively; Ftp-fl is the angular coefficient between them,
period, the culture solution in the planting cavity can be re-entered into calculated as 0.485.
the seawater cavity for distillation. In this way, the wastewater can be Qcv,ca-fl represents the convective heat transfer between Fresnel lens
used many times. and concentration cavity air, which is given by:
( )
Qcv,ca-fl = Afl hca-fl Tca − Tfl (4)
2.2. Experimental system
where Tca is the temperature of concentration cavity air; hca-fl represents
The material and specifications of each experimental component are the convective heat transfer coefficient between Fresnel lens and con­
listed in Table 1. The evaporator is made of cotton fiber and the centration cavity air, which can be calculated as [29]:
condenser is made of aluminum plate. The absorber is an aluminum
λca ( )
plate with a selective absorption coating on the surface. During the hca− fl = 0.54Ra1/4 104 ≤ Ra ≤ 107 (5)
l
experiment, we used saline water with a concentration of 3.5 % instead
of seawater. A TBQ-2 radiometer with an accuracy of ±5 W/m2 is used In the above equation, λca means the thermal conductivity of cavity
to record solar irradiation in real-time. K-type thermocouples with an air; l means Fresnel lens; Ra means Rayleigh number.
accuracy of ±0.1 ◦ C are installed at the center of the absorber and the The convective heat transfer between Fresnel lens concentrator and
condensing plates. Furthermore, all temperature data is transmitted to external environment is given as [30]:
the 32-channel temperature recorder. An electronic scale with an ac­ ( )
Qcv,fl-amb = Afl hcv,fl-amb Tfl − Tamb (6)
curacy of ±0.1 g is used to weigh the distilled water. Before the exper­
iment, the hydrophilic cotton fiber had been wetted with bulk water.
hcv,fl-amb = 5.7 + 3.8u (7)
The photo of the SHP experimental system is shown in Fig. 3.
where Tamb represents the ambient temperature; hcv,fl-amb represents the
3. Thermodynamic model convective heat transfer between the Fresnel lens and the ambient; u
represents the wind speed.
The energy balance equation is established for each component of The radiation heat transfer between Fresnel lens concentrator and
the system, in which the heat and mass transfer processes of the external environment is given as:
concentrating and desalination units are shown in Fig. 4. ( )
Qrad,fl-0 = Afl εfl σ Tfl4 − Tamb 4 (8)
(1) Fresnel lens concentrator

The energy balance equation of the Fresnel lens concentrator can be (2) Concentration cavity air
expressed as follows:
The energy balance equation of the concentration cavity air can be
dT fl
Qs,fl + Qr,tp-fl + Qcv,ca-Fl − Qr,fl-amb − Qcv,fl-amb = (MC)fl (1) expressed as:
dt
dT ca
In Eq. (1), Qs,fl is the solar energy absorbed by Fresnel lens concen­ Qcv,tp-ca − Qcv,ca-fl = (MC)ca (9)
dt
trator, which is given by:
( ) The convective heat transfer between the concentration cavity air
Qs,fl = IAfl 1 − τfl (2) and the transparent plate is calculated by:
( )
where I represents the solar irradiation; Afl represents the Fresnel lens Qcv,tp-ca = Atp htp-ca Ttp − Tca (10)
area; τfl represents the transmissivity of Fresnel lens.
Qr,tp-fl is the radiation heat transfer between transparent plate and where the calculation formula of heat transfer coefficient htp-ca is the
Fresnel lens concentrator, which is given by: same as Eq. (5).
( )
σ Ttp4 − Tfl4 (3) Transparent plate
Qr,tp-fl = 1− εtp (3)
+ Atp F1tp-fl + A1−tp εεflfl
Atp εtp
The energy balance equation of the transparent plate can be
expressed as:
where σ represents Stefan-Boltzmann constant; Ttp and Tfl are the
dT tp
Qs,tp + Qcv,ha-tp − Qcv,tp-ca − Qr,tp-fl = (MC)tp (11)
Table 1 dt
Materials and specifications of experimental components. In the above formula, Qs,tp is the solar energy taken up by transparent
Component Materials Specification parameters plate, which is given by:
Length = 290 mm, width = 160 mm, ( )
Fresnel lens Qs,tp = IAfl τfl 1 − τtp (12)
PMMA focal length = 17 cm, transmittance =
concentrator
0.93
Transparent Length = 290 mm, width = 80 mm, where τtp represents the transmissivity of transparent plate.
PMMA
plate thickness = 1 mm, transmittance = 0.92 Qcv,ha-tp is the convective heat transfer between the heating cavity air
Secondary PMMA+ Reflective Width = 80 mm, deflection angle = 25◦ , and the transparent plate, which is calculated by:
reflector aluminum reflectivity = 0.9
( )
Absorber
Aluminum+ Length = 290 mm, thickness = 0.3 mm, Qcv,ha-tp = Atp hha-tp Tha − Ttp (13)
absorbing coating height = 8 cm, absorptivity = 0.92
Length = 290 mm, thickness = 0.3 mm,
Evaporator Cotton fiber where Tha is the temperature of heating cavity air; hha-tp is the heat
height = 13 cm
Length = 290 mm, thickness = 0.3 mm, transfer coefficient, which has the same calculation as Eq. (5).
Condenser Aluminum plate
height = 8 cm

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L. Wang et al. Desalination 539 (2022) 115970

Fig. 3. Photo of the experimental system.

T fl Qr,fl-amb Qcv,fl-amb Qs,fl

(a) (b)
Qcv,ca-fl Qr,tp-fl T abs T cd1 T cd2 T cd(n-1) T cd(n)
Qcond1 Qcond2 Qcond(n)
T ca
Qs,abs
Qcv,n-amb
Qcv,tp-ca Qs,tp
Qcv,abs-ha Qcv1 Qcv2 Qcv(n)
T tp Qcv,ha-tp
Qrad,n-amb
Qs,abs
T ha Qeva1 Qeva2 Qeva(n)
Qcv,abs-ha

Qs,r
Qsw1 Qsw2 Qsw(n) Qsw,n-cs

Fig. 4. Energy flows of (a) concentrating components and (b) multi-stage desalination units.

(4) Heating cavity air be expressed as:

( ) dT abs
The energy balance equation of the heating cavity air can be Qs,abs − Qcv,abs-ha − Qcond,d1 + Qrad,d1 + Qeva,d1 + Qsw1 = (MC)abs (17)
dt
expressed as:
In the above formula, Qs,abs is the solar energy received by absorber
dT ha which can be obtained as:
Qcv,abs-ha − Qcv,ha-tp = (MC)ha (14)
dt
Qs,abs = IAfl τfl τtp ρr αabs (18)
Qcv,abs-ha represents the convective heat transfer between the
absorber and the heating cavity air, which is given as:
where ρr means the reflectivity of secondary reflector; αabs is the solar
Qcv,abs-ha = Aabs habs-ha (Tabs − Tha ) (15) absorptivity of absorber.
In Eq. (17), Qsw1 represents the thermal conductivity between the
In the above formula, Aabs is the absorber area; Tabs is the absorber first stage evaporator and the cold seawater below. For the ith stage
temperature; habs-ha is the convective heat transfer coefficient, which is desalination unit, it could be given by:
calculated as [29]: ( )
λeva Aeva Teva(i) − Tcs
0.67Ra1/4 ( ) Qsw(i) = (19)
habs-ha = 0.68 + [ ]4/9 Ra ≤ 109 (16) δeva-cs
9/16
1 + (0.492/Pr)
where λca represents the thermal conductivity of evaporator; Aeva rep­
resents the evaporator area; Tcs represents the cold seawater tempera­
(5) Evaporator ture; δeva-cs represents the distance between evaporator and cold
seawater.
Since the thermal resistance of the absorber and the first stage In addition, Qcond1, Qrad1 and Qeva1 represent the thermal conduc­
evaporator is pretty small, we assume that Tabs = Teva1 [25]. Under this tivity, radiation heat transfer and evaporation heat in the first stage
condition, the energy balance equation of the first stage evaporator can respectively. For the ith stage (i = 1, 2, 3…n), they can be calculated as

5
L. Wang et al. Desalination 539 (2022) 115970

follows: represents the cross-sectional area of the condenser; δcd-cs represents the
( ) distance between condenser and cold seawater.
λv Acd Teva(i) − Tcd(i)
Qcond,d(i) = (20)
δeva-cd (7) Evaluation indexes
( )
The evaporation efficiency of each desalination unit can be defined
4 4
Aeva σ Teva(i) − Tcd(i)
Qrad,d(i) = (21)
1
εeva + ε1cd − 1 as Eq. (32). It represents the percentage of mass transfer heat in the total
energy of the evaporation chamber.
Qe(i) = me(i) hfg (22) Qeva(i)
ηeva(i) = ( ) (32)
In the above equations, λv represents the thermal conductivity of Qcond,d + Qrad,d + Qeva,d + Qsw i
evaporator; Acd represents the condenser area; Tcs represents the
GOR (gain output ratio) is used to evaluate the efficiency of the
condenser temperature; δeva-cs represents the distance between evapo­
system in capturing solar energy, which can be expressed as [32]:
rator and condenser; εeva and εcd are the emissivity of evaporator and
condenser, respectively. Mf hfg
GOR = ∑ (33)
In Eq. (22), hfg is the latent heat of vapor; me is the mass transfer Afl Δt I
coefficient which can be expressed as [31]:
( ) where Mf is the obtained freshwater, hfg is the latent heat of vapor, Δt is
me(i) =
DPatm
ln
Patm − Ps,cd(i)
(23) the working time.
Rv Tave(i) δg Patm − Ps,eva(i) The solution procedure is shown in Fig. 5. EES calculation software is
used to solve differential equations. The initial environmental parame­
where D is the diffusion coefficient of vapor in the air, Tave is the average ters, including I, Tamb, Tcs and u are input into EES, and the convergence
temperature of the gas in the evaporation chamber, and Ps is the partial criterion and iteration step are set. When the calculation results meet the
pressure of vapor, they can be given as [31]: convergence conditions, the required Mf, ηeva and GOR can be output.
D = 0.187 × 10− 9 Tave
2.072
(24)
4. Results and discussion
Tcd(i) + Teva(i)
Tave(i) = (25)
2 4.1. Outdoor experiment and verification
( )
Ps = exp 25.317 −
5144
(26) The outdoor experiment was conducted in Beijing's sunny weather in
Tave September. The operation time was from 8:00 to 17:00. The climate
parameters are input into the thermodynamic model to confirm its
(6) Condenser exactness, and the simulation and experimental results are shown in
Fig. 6. Fig. 6 (a) shows the radiation and temperature changes of the
The energy balance equation of the ith condenser can be expressed four-stage system. It can be seen that the radiation reaches the maximum
as: value of 755 W/m2 near 12:00. The temperature change of the absorber
( ) ( ) shows a similar trend to the irradiation, and the maximum value
Qcond,d + Qcv,d + Qeva,d i − Qcond,d + Qcv,d + Qeva,d + Qsw i+1 measured at noon is 56.6 ◦ C. Additionally, the theoretically obtained
dT cd(i) absorber temperature is consistent with the experimental value.
= (MC)cd(i) (27)
dt The simulated and recorded water production variations are plotted
in Fig. 6(b). The water yield measured by the system in one day reaches
Since the thermal resistance between the upper evaporator and the
9.12 kg/m2, and the yield of the first desalination stage accounts for
next condenser is small, we assume that Tcd(i) = Teva(i+1).
49.7 % of the total production. It is obvious that the simulated water
The energy balance equation of the last stage condenser can be
yield of each stage agrees greatly with the measured values. Fig. 6(c)
expressed as:
presents the comparison GOR at different hours. There is no significant
( ) ( )
Qcond,d + Qcv,d + Qeva,d (n− 1) − Qcv,n-amb + Qrad,n-amb + Qsw,n-cs difference between the simulation and experimental values. The mean
dT cd(n) relative divergence is 6.5 %, and the differences are mainly due to the
= (MC)cd(n) (28) measurement uncertainty of sensors, especially anemometers. This is
dt
because we can only measure the wind speed every half an hour during
Among them, Qcv,n-amb represents the convective heat transfer be­ the experiment, not in real-time. From the above comparison, the reli­
tween the last stage condenser and the environment which is written as: ability of the thermodynamic model prediction is demonstrated.
( )
Qcv,n-amb = Acd hcv,n-amb Tcd(n) − Tamb (29)
4.2. Thermodynamic analysis
where the heat transfer coefficient hcv,n-amb has the same calculation
methodology as Eq. (7). After verification, the thermodynamic model is used to investigate
Qrad,n-amb represents the radiation heat transfer between the last the water production capability of the SHP system. In the process of
stage condenser and the ambient, which can be calculated by: theoretical calculation, the effects of solar irradiation I, interlayer
( ) spacing δeva-cd, ambient temperature Tamb and desalination stage num­
4
Qrad,n-amb = Acd εcd σ Tcd(n) − Tamb 4 (30) ber are analyzed. The variation range of each parameter is shown in
Table 2.
The heat conduction between the last stage condenser and the bulk
water is given as:
4.2.1. Single-stage system analysis
( )
λcd Acro,cd Tcd(n) − Tcs The influence of ambient temperature Tamb and wind speed u on
Qsw,n-cs = (31)
δcd-cs water productivity and GOR is shown in Fig. 7. It is clear that when Tamb
rises from 20 ◦ C to 35 ◦ C, the water productivity and GOR show a linear
where λcd represents the thermal conductivity of evaporator; Acro,cd improvement. This is because the convective heat transfer between the

6
L. Wang et al. Desalination 539 (2022) 115970

Input climate conditions

I, Tamb, Tcs, u
Get Tabs from Eqs.(17)~(22)
Input structural parameters
and time step Δt

Get Tha from Eqs.(1)~(8) For i=1:n, assume

Set independent variables Tabs=Teva1, Tcd(i)=Teva(i+1)
δeva-cd , stage number, etc
Get Ttp from Eqs.(9)~(10)
Get Tcd(i) and Tcd(n) from
Iterative calculation heat and Eqs.(27)~(31)
mass transfer Eqs. (1)~(31) Get Tca from Eqs.(11)~(13)

Get D and me from

No Get Tfl from Eqs.(14)~(16) Eqs.(23)~(26)
Convergence
criteria
Yes Calculate optical
and thermal losses
Output ηeva and GOR
via Eq.(32) and Eq.(33)

Fig. 5. Flowchart of the solution algorithm.

(a) 80 (b) 500

Experiment Simulation Experiment Simulation
I Tabs Tcd1 800
70 Total Total
Tabs Tcd2 Tcd3 400
Stage 1 Stage 1
Tcd4 Tcd4
Accumulated water yield (g)

Stage 2 Stage 3
60 Tamb 600 Stage 3 Stage 3
300
Temperature (°C)

Irradiation (W/m2)

Stage 4 Stage 4

50
400
200

40
200 100
30

0 0
20
8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00
Time (h) Time (h)

(c) 1.8
GOR(experiment)
GOR(simulation)
1.5

1.2
Hourly GOR

0.9

0.6

0.3

0.0
8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00
Time (h)

Fig. 6. Comparison between outdoor experiment and simulation data: (a) temperature, (b) cumulative water yield, and (c) GOR.

7
L. Wang et al. Desalination 539 (2022) 115970

Table 2
Different variable parameters and ranges.
Variable Range
Solar irradiation I 300–1000
Ambient temperature Tamb 20–35
Wind speed u 0–3
Feed seawater temperature Tcs 17
Interlayer spacing δeva-cd 1–15
Desalination stage number 1–10
system and the ambient is lower under a high ambient temperature.
Similarly, a low wind speed will result in higher productivity. Notably,
when T0 = 20 ◦ C and u = 3 m/s, the productivity is 0.461 kg/m2/h and
the GOR is 0.31; when T0 = 35 ◦ C and u = 0, the productivity achieves
0.495 kg/m2/h and the GOR achieves 0.332, the water productivity and
GOR are increased by 7.4 % and 7.1 %, respectively.
Under different radiations, the variation of absorber temperature for
a single-stage system with interlayer spacing δeva-cd is shown in Fig. 8.
With the increase of δeva-cd, the thermal conductivity between evapo­
rator and condenser decreases, leading to a larger absorber temperature.
In addition, due to the increment of heat input, the absorber tempera­
ture improves with the increase of irradiation. When the radiation in­
tensity is 1000 W/m2 and the interlayer spacing is 15 mm, the absorber
temperature can reach 55.8 ◦ C.
Fig. 9 illustrates the effect of different solar irradiation and interlayer
spacing on the single-stage system thermodynamic performance when
Tamb = 27 ◦ C and u = 0. As can be seen from Fig. 9(a), increasing the
solar irradiation or reducing the interlayer spacing can effectively
improve the evaporation efficiency. This is because higher solar irradi­
ation means more heat can be utilized to evaporate. Furthermore, the
reduction of the interlayer spacing enhances the mass transfer coeffi­
cient, which leads to more evaporation heat. The influence of irradiation
and interlayer spacing on GOR is shown in Fig. 9(b). Under the condi­
the total loss. Using a secondary reflector with higher reflectivity can
reduce optical losses and further improve the energy utilization effi­
Unit ciency. On the other hand, the thermodynamic loss of the system ac­
counts for 32.12 %, mainly from the convective and radiant heat loss
W/m2
◦
C between the Fresnel lens and the surrounding environment, accounting
m/s for 16.98 % and 16.24 %, respectively. Therefore, it is recommended to
◦
C arrange windshields around the system to reduce heat exchange loss. It
mm is worth noting that the radiation and heat conduction loss inside the
/
desalination unit accounts for only 1.03 % of the total energy loss, which
proves the superiority of evaporation heat transfer in a narrow space.
4.2.2. Multi-stage system analysis
The multi-stage distillation system can recover the condensation
latent heat from the upper desalination unit to promote the evaporation
again. Establishing a multi-stage distillation structure is the most
effective way to improve water productivity and solar thermal effi­
ciency. Under the condition of δeva-cd = 6 mm and I = 1000 W/m2, the
evaporator temperature, water production rate and evaporation effi­
ciency of each desalination unit for the ten-stage system are studied, and
the results are shown in Fig. 11. It can be found that the first stage
desalination unit obtains 84.2 % evaporation efficiency, and even in the
10th stage, the evaporation efficiency is as high as 66.2 %. This phe­
nomenon illustrates that the designed multi-stage interfacial
55
50
45
Tabs (°C)

40
tion of high solar irradiation, the effect of interlayer spacing on GOR is
less pronounced. For instance, with the irradiation of 1000 W/m2, when 35
the interlayer spacing is expanded from 1 mm to 13 mm, the GOR is I=400 W/m2
reduced by only 3.43 %. Nevertheless, in practical applications, in order 30 I=600 W/m2
to make the device more compact and to obtain higher evaporation ef­ I=800 W/m2
ficiency, it is recommended to select a small interlayer spacing. 25 I=1000 W/m2
The energy loss of the system mainly comes from optical loss and
thermodynamic loss, as shown in Fig. 10. Among them, the optical loss is 20
caused by the solar radiation absorption via optical components, and the 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
thermodynamic loss is caused by the heat exchange between the δeva-cd (mm)
external components and the environment. After simulation analysis, it
can be found that optical loss accounted for 29.16 %. Notably, the sec­ Fig. 8. Variation of absorber temperature with solar irradiation and inter­
ondary reflector caused the most optical loss, accounting for 8.57 % of layer spacing.

(a) (b) 0.335

0.500

0.495
0.330
0.490
Productivity (kg/m2/h)

0.325
0.485
GOR

0.480 0.320
u=0
0.475 u=0
u=1 m/s 0.315 u=1 m/s
0.470 u=2 m/s
u=3 m/s u=2 m/s
0.465 0.310 u=3 m/s

0.460
0.305
18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36
Tamb (°C) Tamb (°C)

Fig. 7. Effects of ambient temperature and wind speed on (a) productivity and (b) GOR.

8
L. Wang et al.
Fig. 9. Effect of solar irradiation and interlayer spacing on (a) evaporation efficiency, and (b) GOR.
Fig. 10. Ratio of various energy losses.
desalination system can achieve highly efficient heat recovery.
Fig. 12 depicts the effect of total desalination stages on water pro­
ductivity and GOR. The simulation results show that more desalination
stages lead to higher water production and GOR. Notably, the water
yield rate and GOR of the ten-stage system reach 3.98 kg/m2/h and 2.64,
respectively. However, the growth tends to be flat with the increase of
stage number. For instance, the water yield rate of the three-stage sys­
tem is around 1.5 times that of the two-stage system, while the water
productivity of the ten-stage system is only about 1.8 % greater than that
of the nine-stage system. It is also worth mentioning that the increment
in the number of desalination stages will increase for the construction
cost. Therefore, the number of installed total desalination stages is
recommended as 4–7.
4.2.3. Long term prediction
According to the established theoretical model, the long-term oper­
ating performance of the four-stage SHP system is predicted. Taking the
weather of Guangzhou, China (113◦ E, 23◦ N) in 2020 as a case, the
annual water production characteristics of the system are plotted in
Fig. 13. The weather data is provided by The China Meteorological Data
9
Desalination 539 (2022) 115970
Service Center [33]. Fig. 13(a) shows the average daily irradiation and
ambient temperature of each month. On cloudy days, the solar radiation
reaching the ground is mainly scattered. Consequently, when the cu­
mulative vertical radiation of the day is lower than 3 MJ/m2, we regard
it as a rainy day; while the vertical radiation higher than 3 MJ/m2 is
regarded as a sunny day, that is, the day when the system can operate. It
is worth noting that the average daily irradiation in July reaches the
highest value of 19.3 MJ/m2. The reason is that the solar altitude angle
is the largest in July, resulting in higher solar radiation energy obtained
by the horizontal surface. In March, the sun is located near the tropic of
cancer, and due to fewer sunny days this month, the average daily
irradiance drops to 7.93 MJ/m2. The daily mean maximum air tem­
perature changes are similar to the radiation changes, but some differ­
ences exist. In July, the highest ambient temperature reaches 34.2 ◦ C;
while in December, the temperature reaches a minimum of 19.5 ◦ C.
Fig. 13(b) presents the water production performance of the system
during different months. The daily average water yield in July can reach
the maximum value of 14.63 kg/m2/day. Due to the reduction of input
solar heat and sunshine hours, the daily water yield in March is the
lowest, which is 4.67 kg/m2/day. In addition, the numerical change of
L. Wang et al. Desalination 539 (2022) 115970

ηeva mf (kg/m2/h)
1.0
70 0.85
Teva
ηeva 0.8
60 mf 0.80

0.6
50
0.75
Teva (°C)

40 0.4
0.70

30 0.2
0.65
20
0.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The ith stage

Fig. 11. Water production performance of ten-stage desalination system.

maintenance fee. Co and Cm are assumed to account for 20 % of Cf [35].

5 3.0 The annual fixed cost Cf is defined as:
Productivity Cf = AF × Cc (36)
2.5
4 GOR
where Cc is the initial construction cost, AF is the amortization factor
which can be calculated as [36]:
Productivity (kg/m2/h)

2.0
3
r(1 + r)y
1.5 AF = (37)
(1 + r)y − 1
GOR

2 1.0 where r is interest percentage, taken as 6 %; y is service life which is

1 0.5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Total distillation stages
Fig. 12. Water production and GOR under different desalination stages.
GOR corresponds to the productivity, and the maximum and minimum
values for the whole year are 1.41 and 1.27, respectively.
Table 3 summarizes the annual water performance of the system in
three different cities in China under the climate conditions of the 2020
year. Although Beijing has the highest dimension, it receives the most
solar irradiation. This is mainly due to the longer sunshine time and
fewer clouds in Beijing all year round. After calculation, the annual
water output of the system in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are
3033.7 kg/m2, 2635.8 kg/m2 and 2802.5 kg/m2, respectively.
4.3. Economic evaluation
expected to be ten years.
The cost of distilled water per liter can be expressed as [34]:
Ct
0.0 CPL = (38)
Map
9 10
where Map is the annual water production.
Based on the present situation of the Chinese market, the price of 1
m2 Fresnel concentrator employed by the SHP system is $ 113. Corre­
spondingly, the price of aluminum plate and cotton fiber required for
distillation components is $ 39 and $ 4, respectively. The PMMA that
makes up the body of the system is estimated to cost $ 69. The Fresnel
lens is purchased by the finished product of mass-produced, and other
raw materials adopt common materials in the Chinese market. After
calculation, the initial cost Cc of the system is expected to be $ 225.
According to Eq. (35), the total annual cost Ct of the SHP system is $
36.7. Based on the water production characteristics of Guangzhou City,
the water production cost of the designed system in the life cycle is 0.013
$/L. Compared with the recent solar HDH and solar stills in Table 4, the
proposed SHP system has higher efficiency and a better economy, which
gives prominence to the advantages of its application in planting hy­
droponic crops.

The economic analysis of the system is carried out to evaluate its
competitiveness in the market. Without considering the salvage value,
the total annual cost for the four-stage SHP system is carried out as
follows [34]:
Ct = Cf + Co + Cm
where Cf is the annual fixed cost; Co is the annual operation cost con­
taining equipment transportation and labor charges; Cm is the annual
5. Conclusion
In this study, a SHP system coupled with multi-stage interfacial
distillation units is developed. The system can realize the circulating
distillation of seawater and agricultural wastewater. The vertically ar­
(35) ranged multi-stage distillation structure ensures the water consumption
of crops and saves more planting area. A theoretical model is established
to evaluate its energy characteristics, and the water production

10
L. Wang et al. Desalination 539 (2022) 115970

(a) 25
Irradiation 35
Clear days
20

Daily average maximum Tamb (°C)

T0 30

Daily average irradiation (MJ/m2)

25
15
20

10
15

25 24 24
21 22 20 10
5 17
15 13 15 15
7 5
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month

(b) 1.6
12 Productivity
GOR 1.5
10
Productivity (kg/m2/day)

1.4
8

1.3

GOR
6

1.2
4

2 1.1

0 1.0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month

Fig. 13. (a)Weather parameters and (b) water productivity and GOR in different months.

Table 3 Table 4
Annual freshwater yield of the SHP system in Chinese cities. Comparison of water production cost with different solar HDH systems and stills.
City Coordinate Monthly average Annual water Type Reference Max productivity (L/ Max CPL
radiation yield m2/d) GOR ($/L)

Beijing 39.59◦ N, 116.17◦ 476.1 MJ/m2 3033.7 kg/m2 Solar Said et al. [37] 6.12 0.267 0.014
E HDH Agouz et al. [38] 8.92 1.21 0.029
2 2
Shanghai 31.02◦ N, 121.14◦ 398.5 MJ/m 2635.8 kg/m Dave et al. [39] 8.26 1.08 0.035
E Sharshir et al. 7.57 0.43 0.028
2
Guangzhou 23.13◦ N, 113.29◦ 408.4 MJ/m 2802.5 kg/m2 [40]
E Xiao et al. [41] 5.61 0.69 0.027
Solar still Lim et al. [31] 18.5 2.35 0.035
Elashmawy [42] 4.41 0.413 0.012
performance of the system under various environmental parameters is Amarloo et al. 2.8 0.239 0.042
[43]
investigated. The main conclusions are as follows:
Xie et al. [44] 4.3 0.88 0.046
Kaushal et al. 6.55 1.27 0.062
(1) The outdoor experimental results verify the reliability of the [45]
thermodynamic model, in which the relative deviation between SHP Current study 11.25 1.41 0.013
the simulated GOR and the experimental value is 6.5 %. system
(2) For the single-stage system, the optical and thermodynamic losses
account for 29.16 % and 38.72 %, respectively. Among them, the (4) The more distillation stages of the system, the smaller the water
thermal loss between the Fresnel lens and the ambient accounts production gain. Under one sun irradiation, the water production
for the largest proportion. and GOR obtained by the ten-stage system are 3.98 kg/m2/h and
(3) A higher solar irradiation or a narrower interlayer spacing can 2.64, respectively
effectively improve evaporation efficiency; a higher solar irradi­ (5) Operating under the weather conditions in Guangzhou, China,
ation can effectively enhance GOR, but the interlayer spacing has the annual water output of the SHP system is 2.8 tons/m2, and the
little effect on GOR.

11
L. Wang et al.
water production cost is evaluated to be 0.013 $/L. Compared
with the recent research on solar HDH desalination systems and
stills, it has a better economy.
The current study is limited to the climatic conditions in China, and
future work is expected to estimate the operation characteristics of the
system in other regions. Additionally, the presented SHP system will be
tested with diverse types of actual agricultural wastewater.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Lu Wang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Software,
Validation, Data curation, Writing – original draft. Haiying Cheng:
Validation, Software. Gang Wu: Methodology, Software. Qian He:
Validation, Software. Hongfei Zheng: Methodology, Supervision, Re­
sources, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Funding
acquisition.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the gracious support of the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51976013), and
Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. 3192031).
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