As is widely known, the issue of freshwater scarcity affects practically all people, and all are looking for innovative and workable ways to attempt to solve this issue. In this work, a novel method of desalination is proposed. The proposed system consists of a solar collector (PTSC), evacuated pipe (EP), condenser (CU), and separation unit (SU). The working principle of the system is heating the feed saline water using the PTSC and EP and controlling the water flow rate to control the output conditions of the EP. The produced vapor is therefore separated from salty water using the SU. In addition, the generated steam is condensed into the CU to produce a freshwater distillate. Consequently, the effect of solar radiation on the affecting temperatures was tested. In addition, the effect of using different water flow rates (6, 7.5, 10, 20, 40, and 60 L/h) inside the EP on the system productivity was investigated. The primary findings of this work may be highlighted in relation to the experiments conducted. At midday, when ultraviolet irradiance reached its highest, the EP’s water flow entrance and outflow had the largest temperature differential. In addition, the lower the water flow rate inside the EP, the higher the water temperature, the higher the evaporation rate of the system, and the greater the freshwater productivity of the system. At 6 L/h, the water’s highest temperature was 92 °C. Moreover, the best performance of the system was obtained at 7.5 L/h, where the freshwater production and average daily effectiveness of the distillate process were 44.7 L/daytime and 59.6%, respectively. As well, the productivity of EP was augmented by around 11.86% when using graphite nanoparticles. Additionally, the distilled freshwater from the system operating at the flow rate of 7.5 L/h costs 0.0085 $/L.

In this experimental study, the performance of the diesel engine was analyzed for biodiesel derived from Calophyllum inophyllum. The impact of the addition of additives such as N-octanol and N-butanol with Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel has been assessed. Impact of the application of hybrid N-octanol and N-butanol with biodiesel on emission profile used for the engine performance has also been demonstrated. Response surface analysis of alcohol additives-biodiesel blend was performed separately in this study for the engine efficiency and emission profile. A combination of N-octanol and N-butanol presented the highest brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and lowest carbon monoxide (CO) emission among the ternary blends of octanol. N-butanol-biodiesel blend presented the lowest hydrocarbon (HC) emission among the blends of N-butanol. N-octanol with 5 and 10% addition with biodiesel showed the lowest HC emissions among the blends of octanol. The response surface methodology (RSM) optimization revealed that the optimized thermal efficiency and emission were obtained at full load and minimum load, respectively. The addition of N-octanol hindered the emission at all loads, while N-butanol reduced it at higher loads. A strong correlation between the load and alcohol additives on the engine performance and emission profile has been obtained using the RSM optimization approach. The R-squared value obtained from the RSM was 0.92 and emission profile has been characterized.

In recent years, non-linear loads on the distribution side are increasing rapidly. Notably, the electric arc furnace (EAF) is the most used non-linear load due to its diverse applications for industrial needs. However, EAF has some disadvantages like uneven distribution of heat inside the furnace, release of unwanted gases, increased level of harmonics, and Flickers in voltages. Specifically, power quality concerns are more and need comprehensive solutions. In this work, a matrix converter (MC) along with static VAR compensator (SVC) is proposed, and the hybrid exponential-hyperbolic furnace model is adapted in MATLAB platform. Simulations are carried out for different cases and the observed results are compared with existing methodologies. It was perceived that the power quality parameters such as peak current and voltages, total harmonic distortions (THDs), voltage flickers, and power factors are enhanced compared with existing methodologies. Precisely, the THD of current and voltage attains a prime rate of about 2.85% and 29.54%, respectively. Moreover, the proposed model’s voltage flicker and power factor offer a grander scale of about 1.26% and 0.9975, respectively. The enhanced scheme provides more significant advantages to the large-scale steel manufacturing plant with EAF.

Heat transfer through tube walls can be promoted using a ribbed tube configuration. Most of the ribs used in previous reports have equal height along the tube length. In this numerical study, we investigate the heat transfer and pressure drop in a transverse ribbed tube where ribs of unequal heights are mounted such that the tops of the ribs form a zigzag shape. Four configurations were studied. Each configuration had a set of two neighboring ribs of different heights. The set was repeated along the tube length to form a zigzag shape. The rib height ratios, e₂/e₁, of the four sets were 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0. The ratios of the height of the taller rib, pitch, and width to the tube diameter were kept constant at values of e₁/d = 0.1, p/d = 1.0, and w/d = 0.05, respectively. The Reynolds number ranged from 10,000 to 60,000, while the Prandtl number ranged from 0.71 to 7.0. The results from the k-ε and k-ω models were first validated and compared with the experimental results of smooth and ribbed tubes. The two models showed comparable results, with the k-ε showing slightly better performance and was thus selected to perform the current study. It was found that the average Nusselt number increases along with increases in the rib height ratio, Prandtl number, and Reynolds number. The friction factor changed exponentially with the rib height ratio, while the Reynolds number showed a minor effect. At the same pumping power, a maximum thermal performance enhancement of approximately 8% was achieved at rib height ratios of 0.25 and 0.5. The rib height ratio of 0.5 has an advantage over that of 0.25 as it has a higher average Nusselt number. Two correlations were introduced to estimate the Nusselt number and friction factor for the current ribbed tube of zigzag configurations.