Water purifier using Solar Energy

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Technology
in
Mechanical Engineering

by
SABARINATHAN JP
18BME0898

Under the guidance of

Prof. Anoop Kumar

School of Mechanical
Engineering

VIT, Vellore.

November, 2024
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project entitled “Water purifier using Solar energy"
submitted by me, for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology in
Mechanical Engineering to VIT is a record of bonafide work carried out by me under
the supervision of Prof. Anoop Kumar.
I further declare that the work reported in this thesis has not been submitted
and will not be submitted, either in part or in full, for the award of any other degree or
diploma in this institute or any other institute or university.

Place : Vellore
Date :
Signature of the Candidate
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled “Water purifier using solar energy”
submitted by Sabarinathan JP & 18BME0898, School of Mechanical
Engineering, VIT, for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology in
Mechanical Engineering, is a record of bonafide work carried out by him/her under
my supervision during the period, ____ to ____, as per the VIT code of academic and
research ethics.

The contents of this report have not been submitted and will not be submitted
either in part or in full, for the award of any other degree or diploma in this institute or
any other institute or university. The project fulfills the requirements and regulations
of the University and in my opinion, meets the necessary standards for submission.

Place: Vellore
Date: Signature of the Guide

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Head of the Department

Programme
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Student Name
 Project Summary

A constant supply of clean drinking water is vital for every household.

However, millions of people still lack access to this invaluable resource.
Drinking polluted water exposes people to specific water contaminants that
could lead to certain waterborne diseases.
Humans may become exposed to these pollutants through different pathways,
including drinking water, recreational waters. These contaminants are
responsible for some of the most aggressive forms of waterborne diseases
plaguing our health & So, Purified Water is a major need.
There are 4 major techniques in which water is purified currently, Boiling,
Filtration, Disinfection, Reverse osmosis. Each of these methods are used on
Unclean/Polluted water to Make it Safer to drink.
Here we are Introducing Solar Energy in the System of Water purification, to
produce electricity from a sustainable source like Sun is highly efficient & also
helps in lowering the cost spent on electricity.
Our Aim here is to analyse about how Solar Energy can make a difference
when it is introduced in the system where We produce electricity for the
purification system. The Solar energy being a renewable source of energy, It is
Highly Efficient and It can be implemented in almost every region.
In Indian Demographic, There are still areas/localities that don’t have access to
Clean water. By Creating this Purification system which works with Solar
energy, Purified/Clean water has a chance to become accessible to these
places.
In Mass Production Industries, Water plays a Major Role & If It is being Made
safer using a renewable energy like the Solar Energy, It makes it more efficient
& also lowers the cost for electricity.
 CONTENTS Page
No.

Acknowledgment i

Project Summary ii

Table of Contents Iii

List of Figures ix

List of Tables xiv

Abbreviations xvi

Symbols and Notations xix

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Motivation

2 BACKGROUND SURVEY

2.1 International Status

2.2 National Status

2.3 Summary of Literature

2.4 Research Gap

2.5 Objective

3 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

3.1 Technical Specification

4 DETAILED METHODOLOGY

5 ANALYSIS

6 RESULT & DISCUSSION

7 DELIVERABLES & OUTCOMES

8 CONCLUSIONS & FUTURE SCOPE

9 TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL

10 INDUSTRIAL LINKAGE AND BENEFIT TO SOCIETY

REFERENCES
APPENDIX
 List of Figures

Figure No. Title Page No.

2.1 Figure caption

2.2 Figure caption

(In the chapters, the figure caption should come below the figure and the table caption
should come above the table. Figure and table captions should be of font size 10.)
 List of Tables

Table No. Title Page No.

2.1 Table caption
 List of Abbreviations

3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

2G Second Generation
3G Third Generation
4G Fourth Generation
AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
 Symbols and Notations

f CFO
 NCFO
1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Motivation

 A constant supply of clean drinking water is vital for every

household. However, millions of people still lack access to this
invaluable resource.
 Drinking polluted water exposes people to specific water
contaminants that could lead to certain waterborne diseases.
 Humans may become exposed to these pollutants through different
pathways, including drinking water, recreational waters. These
contaminants are responsible for some of the most aggressive forms
of waterborne diseases plaguing our health & So, Purified Water is
a major need.
 There are 4 major techniques in which water is purified currently,
Boiling, Filtration, Disinfection, Reverse osmosis. Each of these
methods are used on Unclean/Polluted water to Make it Safer to
drink.
 Here we are Introducing Solar Energy in the System of Water
purification, to produce electricity from a sustainable source like
Sun is highly efficient & also helps in lowering the cost spent on
electricity.
 Pure drinking water is essential to ensure good health.
Contaminated water hampers health by causing several water borne
diseases such as Diarrhoea, Cholera, Guinea worm disease, Typhoid
and Dysentery. In developing countries like India, scarcity of pure
drinking water is a big issue till now. Diarrheal disease is the
country’s biggest killer, taking the lives of 62 in 1000 under fives.
 Leaning towards renewable energy might solve the energy crisis. A
water resource should be safe and reliable but also affordable to
people. In order to provide a safe and affordable water supply, solar
water purifier is a potential solution. Other water purification
systems are inefficient.
 Besides, dependency on limited energy resources indicate future
problem for these countries. During flood and other calamities,
intensive public service campaigns alert people to boil their
drinking water, but fuel is limited and costly.
2. BACKGROUND SURVEY

2.1 International Status

Below are Research Papers which are related to the aspect of purification of

Water on an international level

• Water purification by semiconductor photo catalysis

A Mills, RH Davies, D Worsley – Chemical Society Reviews, 1993 –

Pubs.rsc.org

• Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades

MA Shannon, PW Bohn, M Elimelech, JG Georgiadis… - Nature, 2008 –

Nature.com

2.2 National Status

Below are Research Papers which are related to the aspect of purification of

Water made in India

• Water purification by using adsorbents: a review

NB Singh, G Nagpal, S Agrawal – Environmental technology & innovation,

2018 – Elsevier

• Household water purification: low-cost interventions

VK Agrawal, R Bhalwar – Medical Journal Armed Forces India, 2009 –

Elsevier
2.3 Summary of Literature

 Semiconductor photo catalysis works by using photons to stimulate

electrons in the valence band of a semiconductor, causing them to jump
to the conduction band. Thus, inducing the formation of energy-rich
electron-hole pairs that can be involved in redox reactions.

 Desalination uses reverse osmosis technology to separate water

molecules from seawater. Zeolites are used as water softeners because
they can exchange sodium ions with hard water ions like calcium and
magnesium. They can remove organic matter, heavy metals, and
ammonia from water. They can also reduce the concentration of fluorine
ions in water.

2.4 Research Gap

 This Research is going to about the various technologies of water

purification & Their principles.

 And In depth about the Water Purification systems that are in practice
which operates using the Solar energy & about how their working
principles.

2.5 Objective

 Our Aim here is to analyse about how Solar Energy can makes a
difference when it is introduced in the system where We produce
electricity for the purification system. The Solar energy being a
renewable source of energy, It is Highly Efficient and It can be
implemented in almost every region so it makes pure water accessible to
everyone.
3. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

3.1 Technical Specification

 This project is to Observe & Report about “Water Purification system

using Solar Energy.

 The processes that involve in the making of the system.

 The intended outcomes of the system.

 The Maintenance of the Solar Panels/chargers over the challenges.

4. DETAILED METHODOLOGY

 Main components of solar water purifier are solar panel, battery, heating
coil, filtering column, double layer condenser and several water vessels.
Some auxiliary components are inverter, controller, water tap, wheels
for mobility etc. SolidWorks design of filtering column is showed in
figure 2. The first layer consists of gravel to filter out impurities which
are visible, the second layer consists of sand which filters out smaller
impurities and the third which is the last layer consists of activated
charcoal which has a huge internal surface area, packed with nooks and
crannies that attract and trap chemical impurities through a process
called absorption.
 An AC heating coil is used to increase water temperature.
 Solar panel collects energy of sun and converts to electrical energy.Solar
battery stores that energy. Inverter is used to convert DC current to AC
current. Controller is used to show the charging status of battery and
prevent the solar panel to take charge from battery when voltage of
battery is higher.
 It shows a double layer coil condenser. It is more efficient than other
existing condensers. It has two layers which enables 2 times cooling
than ordinary condenser. Besides, in this condenser, hot water passes
through a coil. As a result, the contact period and space between hot and
cold water is increased. So, better cooling is obtained.
 In this purifier, solar power is used as energy source and energy is stored
in a battery. At first, water is filtered by filtering chalk to remove dirt
and impurities. Then using stored energy, it boils water by using a
heating coil. Water at room temperature is acquired after condensation
by a double layer condenser. Through this process, pure drinking water
is achieved. Energy stored in the battery can be used at night and cloudy
days.
 Solar energy is used by this water purifier for the purification process.
Water is purified through two stage purification processes, first filtering
the water then boiling it. Filtering removes impurities from
contaminated water and then boiling kills existing living organisms.
Other mechanisms are temperature control mechanism and energy
conversion and storage mechanism.
 A water filtration column is used for filtering. This column contains
layers of gravel, sand and activated charcoal. Filtering removes oil layer,
visible dirt, leaf, rust etc. Activated carbon removes tastes and odor-
causing compounds.
 Solar energy is converted into electric energy by solar cell. Then this
energy is stored in a battery which is used to boil water by converting
electric energy into heat. An inverter is used to convert DC current to
AC current and a controller is used to show the charging status of
battery and restricts flow of electricity from battery to solar panel at
night.
5. ANALYSIS

Solar-powered reverse osmosis (RO) water purification systems are a

sustainable and cost-effective way to produce clean drinking water in areas
without reliable power. They can be portable, efficient, and low maintenance.
Here are some things to consider when analyzing solar-powered RO water
purifiers

Energy consumption: A solar-powered RO system should have low specific

solar energy consumption, which means it should produce a high amount of
water per area of solar collector and land.

Solar energy heats the water entering the boiler. The experimental data show
that increasing the inlet water temperature will reduce the operating pressure of
the reverse osmosis device (1.8MPa to 1.2MPa) so that the power consumption
of the reverse osmosis device can be reduced by about 30%.

Recovery ratio: A high recovery ratio is ideal.

Working fluids: The system should use water or air as working fluids, which
are ideal because they are environmentally friendly and commonly available.

Scale: The system should be viable at an intermediate scale of 50 to 5000 m3

water output.

Technical and economic challenges: Solar energy can be intermittent and

fluctuate, which can create technical and economic challenges. However,
recent technological improvements and feed-in tariff policies can help make
these systems competitive with conventional grid-connected systems.

Operational costs: Demand-side water management (DSWM) and

bidirectional regulation (BDR) can help minimize operational costs.

Construction of a product is the trickiest part of developing a product. This

step includes decision associated with material, production process and
specification selection. Some critical decisions are specification of solar panel,
battery and heating coil. These information defines the charging time of battery
by solar panel and time to increase water temperature by heating coil.

In solar water purifier, 150 W solar panel is used. Battery capacity is 40 AH

and voltage is 12 V. A 200 watt AC heating coil is used to boil water.
In this water purifier, at first impure water is given in the first vessel which
contains filtering column. After filtration, water flows to second vessel where
water temperature is raised to 85 ̊ C with a heating coil. Then, water at 85 ̊ C
flows through double layer condenser and temperature of output water is 35 ̊
C-40 ̊ C. Finally, water at room temperature is stored in third vessel from
where pure drinking water can be consumed.

Energy calculation for capacity of solar panel and battery is shown in this
paper to justify the design.

Battery capacity is measured in Amp Hours (e.g. 17AH). It is needed to be

converted to Watt Hours by multiplying the AH figure by the battery voltage
(e.g. 12V).

Power available in battery (watt hours) = X (Battery size in AH) x Y (Battery

Voltage)

By applying equation, power in battery = 40 x 12 WH = 480 WH

Time to charge the battery fully = power available in battery (Watt Hours) /
power of solar panel (Watt)

So, from equation, time to charge the battery fully by using a 150 Watt solar
panel = 480/ 150 Hours = 3.2 Hours.

Water temperature is raised to 85 ̊ C to kill organisms. To obtain this

temperature, rise for 5 liter (0.005 m3) water requires a total heat input, Qw, of
1149.5 kJ.

Qw= (Vw)(ρw)(Cp,w)(ΔTw)

Where V is the volume (m3), ρ is the density (kg/m3), Cp is the specific heat
(kJkg-1K-1), and ΔT is the temperature rise ( ̊ C or K). The subscript W
denotes water.

From equation, heat input, Qw= 0.005 x 1000 x 4.18 x (85-30) kJ = 1149.5 kJ.

Time needed to rise water temperature, t

By applying equation, time needed to rise water temperature using a 200 Watt
AC heating coil, t = (Qw x 1000)/ (200 x 60) min = 95.79 min = 1 hr 35.79
min

So, 1 hr 35.79 min is needed to rise temperature of 5 litre water to 85 ̊ C.

6. RESULT & DISCUSSION

 It is observed that, the proposed design takes only 16,300 taka and very
easy to maintain. It can purify 5 litre water within almost 1.5 hours. By
using solar panel of required watt peak, charging of battery is very
frequent. Almost 10-15 litre water can be purified everyday with this
purifier, which is without any doubt better than other existing solar
powered purifiers economically. It has wheels that provides mobility. It
can be used at night or stormy days with the help of battery. Battery can
be charged by electricity in case of consecutive stormy days.
7. DELIVERABLES & OUTCOMES

 Basic Principles of Water Purification systems.

 Solar Energy & It’s different purposes in the field of Water

Purification.

 The Various Areas of development in Water Purification based

on Solar energy.
8. CONCLUSIONS & FUTURE SCOPE

 This paper focuses on economic and simple design of solar

water purifier. This product is totally eco-friendly. In addition
to having no carbon dioxide emissions, the Solar Water Purifier
doesn’t produce any noise. Proper safety steps should be taken
as heat and electricity are involved. Proper selection of
materials and components will prevent electrical components
from overheating and causing potential burn hazards.

 Insufficiency of pure drinking water leads thousands of our

people to danger every day. This product expected to mitigate
drinking water crisis both in urban and rural area in
Bangladesh. In rural areas, it can be done in big scale for better
feasibility.

 Concepts are being developed for drinking water filtration

systems in automobiles, which would collect outside air and
water, run it though filtration systems and deliver it to drivers,
chilled, at the dashboard. And of course, on-the-go bottles with
filtration systems offer consumers instant portability with their
choice of filtration options. The future of drinking water
treatment systems is advanced technologies in designer
packaging. Drinking water treatment systems that are either
integrated into appliances or as stand-alone appliances have
already heavily penetrated the consumer market. Product
design and functionality are no longer second to product
performance; in a consumer’s mind, product design often takes
first precedence for purchasing decisions and may even reshape
product performance definitions.

9. TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL – 1

10. INDUSTRIAL LINKAGE AND BENEFIT TO SOCIETY

 Industry Linkage :

 Cost-effectiveness: Solar-powered water treatment systems are

cost-effective.
 Reliability: Solar-powered water treatment systems are reliable.
 Versatility: Solar-powered water treatment systems can treat a
wide range of water sources, including surface water,
groundwater, and brackish or seawater.

 Benefits to Society :

 Solar-powered water purification systems can improve the

microbiological quality of drinking water, which can promote
the health of families.
 Solar energy is a renewable and abundant energy source that
can provide a sustainable power supply for water treatment.
 Solar panels are non-polluting and can help fight climate
change. They are environment friendly.
REFERENCES

 Water purification by semiconductor photo catalysis

A Mills, RH Davies, D Worsley – Chemical Society Reviews
1993 – Pubs.rsc.org

 Science and technology for water purification in the coming

decades MA Shannon, PW Bohn, M Elimelech, JG
Georgiadis… - Nature, 2008 –Nature.com

 Water purification by using adsorbents: a review

NB Singh, G Nagpal, S Agrawal – Environmental technology &
innovation, 2018 – Elsevier

 Household water purification: low-cost interventions VK

Agrawal, R Bhalwar – Medical Journal Armed Forces India,
2009 – Elsevier