Abstract:
Pakistan energy demand is increasing with the rise of population. Most of the energy demand of the country is being fulfilled by fossil fuels. The demand of energy is also increasing with development and advancement in every field of life; due to which utilization of fossil fuels is increasing. The utilization of fossil fuels has caused severe environmental concerns. The environmental concerns and depleting fossil fuels reserved have forced researchers to get energy from other renewable sources. In renewable, solar energy by utilizing salt gradient solar ponds has obtained the great interest since early nineties. Salt gradient solar pond is an artificially constructed water pond, which has been increasing salt concentration with depth. The solar pond utilizes solar energy to heat water. This stored energy in the saline water can be extracted through the heat exchanger. Heat stored in the pond can be used for various applications; such as water heating, power generation, refrigeration, water desalination, space heating and grain drying. In this study, first effort has been made to evaluate the performance of the solar pond under Pakistan's climate condition. Simulations were carried out in MATLAB. To predict the thermal performance of the solar pond energy balance for the upper convective zone, lower convective zone and gradient zone using first order differential equation by the finite difference explicit method has been used. Weather data for simulation was obtained from Meteonorm, a meteorological database. Simulations were carried out to optimize the zone thickness, so that maximum performance can be achieved. Simulations also evaluate the effect of ground water conductivity and heat extraction on the pond thermal performance. The effect of salt diffusion on pond performance was investigated and suggested that maintenance is necessary for salt gradient profile in the pond. In the further study, solar pond viability for different cities of Pakistan has been analyzed. The study suggested, solar pond will perform well in Quetta and Peshawar.
