Performance improvement of a modified distiller with V-corrugated absorber and heat pump in different configurations: A thermoenviroeconomic assessment

Solar distiller is an advantaged thermal desalination method with low energy consumption and simple structure. The following work introduces a reliable heat pump-operated solar still design that can produce freshwater even at sun-off hours. Furthermore, the experiment includes three cases. Firstly, a black wick material covers the basin and the heat pump condenser inside (HPSS-1). Secondly, a V-corrugated basin is used (HPSS-2). Finally, black wick material covers the V-corrugated basin and the heat pump condenser inside (HPSS-3). The results indicated a maximum daily thermal efficiency for HPSS-1, HPSS-2, and HPSS-3 of 59.55, 62.22, and 73.48 %, respectively. Besides, the daily exergy reached 4.82, 4.17, and 5.51 % for HPSS-1, HPSS-2, and HPSS-3. From the cost perspective, the price per liter of freshwater generated was 0.0148, 0.0173, 0.017, and 0.0141$/L for a basic distiller, HPSS-1, HPSS-2, and HPSS-3, respectively. The best case was the third case (HPSS-3), whose thermal and exergy efficiencies were 78.27 and 46.13 % higher than the basic distiller. Besides, the daily productivity reached 10.08 L/m2, showing an enhancement of 164.83 % at a cost reduction of 5.03 % and carbon emission mitigation of 3.37 tons CO2/year.