Numerical study of titanium oxide nanoparticle enhanced energy storage material in solar desalination

The main objective of the present research is to conduct a numerical study for the nanoparticle enhanced energy storage material in solar desalination application. Paraffin is selected as the phase change material because of their stable thermo-physical properties as compared to other energy storage materials used in solar desalination (like lauric acid, stearic acid, etc.). Titanium oxide nanoparticles were impregnated in paraffin and tested for various thermophysical properties like thermal conductivity, latent heat, melting and solidifying characteristics, etc. The test results were used as input for various parameters during the numerical investigation. The overall cumulative yield per day was enhanced to 6.6 L/m2/day when titanium oxide enhanced paraffin was used instead of using fossil paraffin. It is inferred that the titanium oxide enhanced paraffin yields better productivity as compared to the solar still with virgin paraffin as energy storage material. Hence it is concluded that nanoparticle enhanced energy storage material is the next stage of research and development in the area of solar desalination integration with phase change materials as it yields better productivity as compared to unblended paraffin because of their enhanced thermo-physical properties.