A Comparative Analysis Of Water Pasteurization Using Photovoltaics, Solar Thermal, And PV/T Systems

Clean drinking water is a finite resource that may prove to be the most valuable resource in the years to come. To provide safe drinking water, numerous purification methods have been researched. These methods can be paired with renewable energy systems to sustainably purify water. This research provides a comparative analysis of the ability of photovoltaic (PV), solar thermal (ST) and photovoltaic / thermal (PV/T) hybrid systems to pasteurize water for three different locations. All of the energy gain produced by each system will be transferred into heat energy to pasteurize the water within a storage tank. Water storage volume was optimized using TRNOPT software for a range of array sizes of each system.The results show that the ST and PV/T systems are able to pasteurize 63% and 53% more water than the PV system, respectively. By using this research, system designers and consumers can more accurately gauge how much pasteurized water each system can produce before purchasing and installing, and aid in choosing an optimal system for their location.