Performance of a solar parabolic dish concentrator used for water desalination in Al-Diwaniyah, Iraq

A solar parabolic dish concentrator is designed and manufactured to desalinate the saline and brackish water to produce fresh water. The system consists of a solar parabolic dish concentrator with a sun-trucking system, a steam generator (absorber), in addition to a heat exchanger (condenser) to condense the generated steam and convert it to water. The distillation products were measured to assess the environmental and operational effects, which include the intensity of solar radiation, ambient temperature, and wind speed under the climatic conditions of the city of Diwaniyah, Iraq, in three different months (March, April, and May) of 2022. The maximum productivity was obtained during the month of May at 9.97 liters/day, with an average solar radiation of 801.5 W/m2 with an average operating of 6 hours of the distillation system. It was noted through the experimental results that there is an insignificant effect of air temperature and wind speed on the efficiency of the system. The desalinated water was examined, and it was found that it conformed to the recommendations of the World Health Organization.