Abstract

This research presents the experimental study of heat extraction from solar pond with thermosyphonic coils for salt production in Northeast Thailand. The solar pond has an area of 30 m³. The thermophonic coil consisted of 15 U-shaped high density polyethylene (HDPE) tubes with a diameter of 25.4 mm. All 15 U-shaped HDPE tubes were connected to the upper side of each element and then connected to the upper header while the lower side of each element was also connected together with the lower header of the tanks that hold the saline water which are located nearby. As the saline water circulates through the warm coils, it was found that the temperature of saline water in the tank increased by 24.14°C during the daytime, while the night time temperature increased at an average of 22.10°C. This meant that rice husk, the conventional fuel in the northeastern region, consumption was reduced by 20.24 kg/day-m³ (7.23%), and savings of 4,371.84 Baht/year-m³ (145.73 $/y-m³) might be expected.

Key words: Solar pond, salt production, stored heat, energy conservation.