Numerical modelling of a solar salt pan for improved salt production at Lake Katwe, Uganda

The solar salt pans at Lake Katwe are set up haphazardly without any scientific guidelines which compromises the annual throughput from the solar salt works. To improve on the design of the salt pans, the heat transfer dynamics of the salt pan have been numerically and experimentally studied in this study. A representative salt pan located at the shores of the lake Katwe with a surface area of 62 m2 and a depth of 0.2 m was used in this study. The numerical model was implemented in the OpenFOAM software where a 3D heat transfer salt pan model was studied using the Finite Volume Method under Lake Katwe climatic conditions. The model was governed by continuity, salt concentration, momentum, energy equations and the Boussinesq approximation. The numerical simulation model revealed a salt pan brine temperature increase with time and the salt concentration significantly remained constant with time. The study revealed that an optimum salt pan depth to yield a higher salt quantity under Lake Katwe climatic conditions was at 0.1 m.