Performance Improvement of Shallow Solar Pond using Nanoparticles

Countries are going through shortage of energy source; consequently the futures are looking for alternative source of energy. A very high potential Source of alternative source of energy is solar energy. Solar pond as one way to utilize solar energy and shallow solar pond (SSP) is one type of solar pond. Shallow solar pond can be built easily and at a comparatively low cost over large space, using and storing solar energy on a grand scale. They can’t pollute the air, and coupled with desalting units, they can be used to purify water. Shallow Solar ponds with nanoparticles give a great result. In this work two shallow solar ponds were constructed and installed side by side to study the effect of adding aluminum oxide AL2O3 nanoparticles on the performance of the ponds (one with nanoparticles , while the other one without ). It was found that the performance of the shallow solar pond in general was improved by addition of nanoparticles , with an increase in the temperature of the lower convective zone varies between 2.1oC to 11.3oC, with the maximum increase is obtained when 0.2% concentration of nanoparticles.