Solar Powered Portable Water Purification System For Rural Area

(1)

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 7, Issue 10, October 2017)

455 Solar Powered Portable Water Purification System For Rural

Area

Mayur C. Patel

1

, A. Mahesh

2

1,2_{C.L.Patel Institute of Studies and Research in Renewable Energy, New V. V. Nagar, Anand-388121.}

I. INTRODUCTION

In india 70% of people are living in rural areas. The rural population of india comprises more than 70 crore people residing spread over all states of india.It is true that providing drinking water to such a large population is a big challenge. [1]. In india around 3.77 crore indians are affected by water borne diseases annually,and 15 lakhs children are estimated to die of diarrhea and 7.3crore people are cost due to waterborne disease each year. In india with 1,95,813 habitations are affected by poor water quality.[2]. The major chemical parameters of concern are fluoride and arsenic and PH. [3] Water quality is affected by source of pollution.These include sewage discharge from industries, off agricultered field and urbon run-off, storage and disposal of critical elements[4]. The water is a basic necessity for the survival of humans. To be clean, water necessary undergo a water treatment to make it drinkable water. During the water treatment to eliminate or reduce certain pollutants like nitrates,pestisides,heavy metals and organic materials, as well as improve the quality taste of water. [5]

The conventional purification method such as sediment filtration, ion exchange, activated carbon filter, ultraviolet light, reverse osmosis, ozonation, to be used used to purify and improve quality of water. The traditional technologies are not suitable for rural areas. The system has been proposed for use in isolated areas, where fresh water is inadequate and it is often essential to drink high salinity bore water. Rencently some of the wok has been developed for the solar powered water purification system. Phuse at al.(2012)[6]invigisted a water purification system for remote applications using solar photovoltaics technology. The experimental set-up consist of a 20 watt 12V PV panel. It consist of three filters. First filter is pre carbon filter which absorbs and eliminate any chlorides and organic chemicals from water. Second filter eliminates various foreign bodies that come from service water pipes such as bits of rust. The third filter is the reverse osmosis membrane filter.

Schafer et al.(2005)[7] designed and tested a PV powered hybrid membrane configuration desalination system.

The total energy consumption varied from 2 to 8 kWh/m3 of desalinated and disinfected drinking water.

Neskakis et al.(2002)[8]investigated the feasibility analysis of a small photovoltaic driven RO desalination plant, with a normal daily productivity of 0.8-3 m3/day. Schmid et al.(2001)[9] designed and tested a PV powered small scale reverse osmosis system and economically estimated the production cost. It was estimated that the cost of producing 1 m3 of fresh water from the PV-RO system is approximately $3.73. If the production capacity and daily range of operation are raised, the generation cost of fresh water will be decreased in these areas. In this proposed work is to design and development of a solar powered portable water purification system for rural areas and to study different parameters of drinking water and to determine payback period of the proposed system.

II. DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

(2)

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

456

Table.1. Specification of PV module

Sl No. Solar PV panel parameters Capacity 1 Watt per module (Pmax) 20 W 2 Voltage per module (Vmax) 12 V 3 Ampere per module (Imax) 1.6 A A 24V, 1.2A booster pump was used in the study to

pump water at a rate of 1500ml/min from the source to purification system. A spun filter was used in the system to remove sand, silt, dirt, and particles from water. It is made from wound string, rigid foam or pleated film. A mineral catridge bio-filter was used in the system to add minerals, maintaining of pH, reducing oxidation reduction potential, remove free radicals, and remove bacteria , virus. Acidity or alkalinity is a significant factor that determine quality of water. Extremes in pH indiacate bad water quality.The pH enhancer cartridge consist of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium and other health minerals.The system stabilize pH and produce healthy water. The maxmium flow of pH enhancer cartridge was 1.0 gallons per minute. A 11W UV filter lamp was used in the study which include an choke which is connected to an UV tube. UV tube is inside an UV cover. UV rays which removes the bacterias from the water.

2.1 Load estimation and system output calculation

The table 2 shows the load profile of the solar water purification system.

Table.2.

Load profile of purification system

Component Voltage Ampere Watt DC pump 24 1.2 ≈ 29 UV-filter tube 12 0.92 11

Total 40

2.2 Battery capacity calculation:

No. of battery = 2 No. Battery ratings = 12V×7Ah

Total power stored in the battery = 84×2 = 168 W Depth of discharge of the lead acid battery is 80% So, total power × depth of discharge

168 × 0.8 = 134.4 watts

Power consume by system is given by: Total load required = 40 W

Total backup time for the system

Total time required for charging two 12V 7 Ah battery is given by:

Total watts of panel

Total number of of panels used = 2

So, total power from panel Which are connected in series

Total time required for charging the battery

2.3 Output calculation

The project is desined and development of solar powered portable water purification system as an output of 1.5 liter per minute.

Out per hour = 1.5 liter × 60min = 90 liters per hour

The system can function continuously for 3.36 hours from the battery backup. The total water output for 3.36 hours is as follows

(3)

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

457

So this is enough for 60 person per day drinking water consumption

Power consumption of the system for purifying one liter of water is given by:

III. SYSTEM METHODOLOGY

The solar module convert sunlight into DC power.

The output of the panel is connected to charge controller and to battery. When start the purification system, the DC booster pump will force water to the spun filter which remove all suspended particle then water is passed to bio filter which is used to add minerals to the water. After addition of minerals, the water is passed to pH enhancer filter, this filter will improve the pH of water to desired level. The final part of the system is the UV filter which irradiate the flowing water with powerfull ultra violet ray which will destroy all bacteria and virus present in the water. After the UV filter, the water is taken out for drinking purpose. The entire photograph and flow chart of the system presented in figure.

(4)

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

458

Fig.2.Working diagram of solar powered based water purification system

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 About the site

The developed system was tested in solar energy laboratory of C.L Patel Institue of Studies and Research in Renewable Energy, New vallabh vidyanagar, Anand, Gujarat.The city has a tropical climate.The site located at 22.51˚N, 72.93˚E. It has an average elevation of 39 meters.The average rainfall of the site in a year is 882 m.The temperature is highest in the month of May.The temperature ranges from 32˚C to 44˚C in the month of March to June. In winter the temperature ranges from 10˚C to 26˚C.The month of April, May and June recorded the maximum solar radiation. The lowest solar radiationis in the month of November, December and January.The annual solar radiation recives in the site is about 5.0kWh/m2/day.

Expirenments were performed with the developed solar PV based water purification system under mainly two section. One is charging section and other is water purification mode (discharging section). The charging test was conducted on 31st March 2017 at solar energy laboratory. The charging test was conducted from morning 11:00 AM to evening 3:00 PM. An two 20 watts solar panels are connected in series for charging two 12V, 7Ah battery which are connected in series.

The reading has taken in every 30 minutes interval. Global solar radiation was measured in the test by using a pyranometer. Battery voltage, charging voltage and charging current has been taken according to the time interval. The charging power was calaculated by using the charging voltage and current.

4.2 System charging:

(5)

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

459

Fig.3. Voltage variation of solar PV module with respect to Solar radiation .

Fig.4.Current, voltage variation during the charging period

4.3 Water purification

In the discharge mode the system was started for water purification. During the experimental day the purification processs started at afternoon 12:45pm. At starting time the battery voltage was about 24.5V and current was 1.0 ampere as shown in Fig.5.

When it reach at 2:30 PM the battery voltage was decrease to 23.9 V. At 4:30 PM battery voltage was 23.1V and ampere was 0.7A. From the above experiment system was continuesly purified water with a battery back time of 3.45hours by practically and theortically it was cacluated 3.36 hours.

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

700 720 740 760 780 800 820 840 860 880

11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30

voltage

(

volt)

Solar

radi

at

ion(W/

m

2

)

Time (minutes) solar radiation

pv voltage

0.43 0.44 0.45 0.46 0.47 0.48 0.49 0.5 0.51 0.52 0.53

24.6 24.8 25 25.2 25.4 25.6 25.8 26

11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30

Cu

rr

e

n

t(

am

p

)

vo

ltage(vo

lt)

Time (minutes) voltage

(6)

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

[image:6.612.99.487.149.362.2]

460

Fig.5.Voltage, current variation during discharging period.

4.4 Water quality analysis

In the present study water quality analysis was conducted at SICART, NABL accredited testing laboratory. The test results was presented in table 3. In this analysis 200gm of bore well water and 200gm solar purified water was taken.

[image:6.612.76.536.504.612.2]

Normal water has more impurities and 720mg/l TDS level, and 1476µs/cm electrical conductivity. The pH of normal water is 7.42, salinity is 0.7% and turbidity is also 0.83 NTU. After purification pH level is increased 7.68 by bio-filter and decreased dissolve solids up to 520 mg/l. There are other parameters like electrical conductivity(1064 µS/cm), salinity(0.7) and turbidity(0.76) are also maintain desirable limits of drinking water.

Table 3.

shows the test result of normal and purified water.

Sr.No Parameter Normal water Purified water Desirable limits

1 pH 7.42 7.68 6.5-8.5

2 Total dissolved solids (mg/l) 720 519 500 3 Electrical conductivity (µS/cm) 1476 1064 0-2500

4 Salinity % 0.7 0.7 1

5 Turbidity (NTU) 0.83 0.76 1

4.5 Payback period of the system

The cost of the solar powered based portable water purification system is described in table 4. The operational cost,major cost is required to battery bank which stored the power.

The filtres should have to change with time,depend on use of purified water,and other equipment cost is depend on capacity of purification system or power consumption by the system.The PV module prices could go down in future.The purified water has tested in an laboratory and the charge for the testing was about 1000/-.

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

22 22.5 23 23.5 24 24.5 25

Cu

rr

e

n

t

(am

p

)

vo

ltage

(volt)

Time (minutes) Voltage

(7)

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

461

Table: 4 Design cost of the system

Sl No. Particulars Quantity Cost

1 PV module 2 2*900 =1800

2 Battery 2 2*700 =1400

3 Charge controller 1 1*800 =800

4 DC pump 1 1*1500 =1500

5 Spun filter 1 1*300 =300

6 Bio-filter 1 1*1000 =1000

7 pH_-enhancer ₁ _{1*250 =250}

8 UV tube-filter set 1 1*500 =500

9 Stainless steel stand 1 1*1500 =1500

10 Switch 1 1*20 =20

11. Miscellnious - 500

Total cost 9570/-

The payback period of the system can be calculated by following method-

The purifier produce 300 liters of water per day running from battery power.

The total cost for 1 liter of purified water in local market is = 1 Rs.

So 300 × 1 = 300 Rs.

The total cost of system is = 9570 Rs.

So the pay back period is = 9570/300 = 32 days

The energy consumption of the system for producing 300 liters per 3.36 hours of purified water per day is 0.134 kWh.

The price of grid power per unit is 5 Rs. in rural area in india.

So 0.134 × 5 = 0.67 Rs/day 0.67 × 60 = 40.2 Rs./ 2 months

From above calculation a saving of 20.1 Rs per month was achieved.

V. CONCLUSION

The project is to design and development of the solar powered portable water purifier which is used to purify water for drinking purpose. The purifier continuously purify water for 3.36 hours with battery backup and produce around 300 liters of drinking water.The battery will also be fully charged with 3.36 hours.

The water from purifier is tested in SICART and the test result shows that the water is suitable for drinking. The purified water pH level also under desirable limits and TDS decreased to 520 mg/l. Elctrical conductivity of water is set to 1064 and salinity or turbidity maintain to desirable limits.

The purifier is best suitable for rural areas where electricity from the grid is not available. People in the rural area are facing problem of availability of fresh water so this system is best suitable for rural areas.

REFERENCE

[1] Lalitha Subramaniam, Michael Vetha Siromony,2014.Drinking water for last person, Distillation. 5,15-17.

[2] Gautam Harendra Raj and Kumar Phohitasho, 2005. Water Rain Harvesting, Ministry Of Rural Development.11, 75-78.

[3] Drinking water in rural india, wateraid. available from:<water aid.www.wateraid.org>

[4] Moore, H. 2005 , Drinking water in canadian cities. Disttilation. 6,13-19.

[5] Shkolnikor,Viktor,Bahga,Supreet S.Santigo and Juan G.2012, Desalination and hydrogen chlorine,and sodium hydroxide production via elctrophoretic ion exchange and precipitation. 7,1-5. [6] Phus, S.S and Zhang Hefei, 2007. A hybrid solar desalination

process of the multi-effect humidification dehumidification and basin-type unit. Desalination. 220, 552-557.

[7] Schafer A. and Richards B, 2003. Photovoltaic powered desalination system for remote Australian communities. Renewable Energy. 28, 2013–2022.

[8] Neskakis A. and Herold D, 2001. A small PVdriven reverse osmosis desalination plant on the island of Gram-Canaria. Renewable Energy. 137 285- 292.