Performance of seawater-filling type planting system based on solar distillation process: Numerical and experimental investigation.

• A seawater-filling type planting system based on solar distillation is proposed. • The optical performance of the solar concentrator is simulated. • Heat and mass transfer in the system are analysed and modeled. • Under a sunny weather condition, the freshwater yield reaches 2.1 kg/m2·day. • The system is demonstrated with soil humidity control and planting of tomatoes. This paper proposes and describes the design of a novel solar seawater distillation and planting system which can use seawater directly in agricultural irrigation. It combines solar energy concentration, seawater desalination, and agricultural cultivation in a novel way, in which the produced freshwater is transported passively and directly to the root system of plants, avoiding the addition of traditional agricultural irrigation facilities. Energy balance analysis of heat and mass transfer is presented and the numerical calculation is compared with the experimental data regarding temperature change and freshwater production. Design and construction of a small-scale experimental solar seawater distillation and planting system are described. According to the experimental results under a real weather condition in Beijing in May, the experimental device has a freshwater production 2.1 kg/m2·day. In particular, the soil humidity and plant growing within the device have been monitored. Under a sunny weather condition, the soil humidity in the planting section with a mulching film cover reached 25% on the 16th day of operating the device, and the average height of tomatoes was 30 cm on the 20th day of planting in the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]