Integration of solar chimney with desalination for sustainable water production: A thermodynamic assessment
Carlos Méndez, Yusuf Biçer
Abstract
This study analyzes the feasibility of implementing an integrated system for electricity and freshwater production, focusing on solar chimney technology as its main pillar. A preliminary study based on literature is carried out to analyze electrical generation and the heat transfer to the storage system of the solar chimney. In addition, a seawater thermal desalination is incorporated with the idea to increase the overall efficiency of the solar chimney. Furthermore, in order to address electricity and freshwater demand without interruption, a hydro-storage system with a water turbine is integrated. As a result, implementing an integrated system with a solar chimney as its main source of energy, the overall energy efficiency is obtained to be 8.4%, which is substantially higher than a single solar chimney.