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Uncertainty Covered Techno-Enviro-Economic Viability Evaluation of a Solar Still Water Desalination Unit Using Monte Carlo Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Saba Sedayevatan

    (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering-Energy Division, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, No. 15–19, Pardis St., Mollasadra Ave., Vanak Sq., P.O. Box 19395-1999, Tehran 1999 143344, Iran
    Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Guilan, Rasht P.O. Box 41996 13776, Iran)

  • Armida Bahrami

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Holmes Hall, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA)

  • Fatemeh Delfani

    (Department of Applied Mathematics, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616, USA)

  • Ali Sohani

    (Department of Enterprise Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

Due to much lower initial and operating costs, as well as a great environmental and energy performance, there has been a growing tendency towards the application of solar still desalination systems to deal with water scarcity issues. By taking advantage of higher investments and providing incentives to policy makers, the application could be even broader. In order to convince the policy makers and investors, it is important to provide a clear and realistic overview of the technical, economic, and environmental viability of solar stills, and several studies have evaluated them from different viewpoints. Nonetheless, the economic and environmental factors have uncertainties, which have not been taken into account. Therefore, this study uses the Monte Carlo approach to consider the effects of the uncertainty of inflation and discount rates, in addition to emission factors, on the system’s techno-enviro-economic viability. The study is performed by covering cost per liter (CPL) and the annual saving of CO 2 (SCO 2 ) as the most important key techno-economic and environmental indicators of the system. The results show that the best probability distribution functions for inflation, discount, and emission factors are normal, log-normal, and their summation, respectively. Furthermore, both SCO 2 and CPL are found to have considerable uncertainty. The former has a variation ranging from 317.7 to 427.9 g, while the corresponding values for the latter are 0.0212 to 0.0270 $ · L −1 , respectively. With the amounts of 0.1716 and 0.1727, the values of 378.9 g and 0.0245 $ · L −1 are the values with the highest chance of occurrence for SCO 2 , as well as for CPL, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Saba Sedayevatan & Armida Bahrami & Fatemeh Delfani & Ali Sohani, 2023. "Uncertainty Covered Techno-Enviro-Economic Viability Evaluation of a Solar Still Water Desalination Unit Using Monte Carlo Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-13, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:19:p:6924-:d:1252485
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ahmed E. Abu El-Maaty & Mohamed M. Awad & Gamal I. Sultan & Ahmed M. Hamed, 2023. "Innovative Approaches to Solar Desalination: A Comprehensive Review of Recent Research," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-31, May.
    2. Karol Sztekler & Łukasz Mika, 2021. "Increasing the Performance of an Adsorption Chiller Operating in the Water Desalination Mode," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Hidab Hamwi & May S. Al-Suwaidan & Ali A. Al-Naser & Ali Al-Odwani & Rawan Al-Sammar & Sara A. Aldei, 2022. "A Pilot Study of Micro Solar Still Technology in Kuwait," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-14, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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