Research Info

Desalination of seawater is a possible solution for freshwater scarcity, but conventional methods are often fossil fuel-dependent and cause significant environmental damage. Although solar energy is a promising alternative, challenges related to unstable thermal performance and low energy efficiency remain. In the present study an innovative life cycle assessment (LCA) of a solar desalination system equipped with a phase change material (PCM) and a spray unit. This research investigates the system performance under spray conditions and provides a comprehensive comparative analysis of the manufacturing and recycling stages. The analysis quantified environmental impacts in 15 different categories using SimaPro software and the IMPACT 2002 + method. Key findings show that the choice of raw materials is crucial; The use of glass instead of aluminum or copper in the collector significantly reduces environmental damage. In addition, the integration of PCM optimized energy efficiency by stabilizing thermal fluctuations and increased the thermal efficiency of the system from 41.90 % to 60.61 %. This improvement resulted in a 10 % increase in freshwater production (from 886 cc to 976 cc in a 4-hour test period). From an economic perspective, although the PCM-equipped system (Type 2) had a higher initial cost ($60.01), due to its superior performance, its total lifetime benefit reached $2765.916, which was $430.595 more than the baseline system (Type 1). These results indicate that PCM integration is an effective strategy to enhance the environmental and economic performance of solar desalination systems and bridges the gap between sustainable design and practical implementation.