A transient analysis of a naturally ventilated greenhouse with built-in solar still and waste heat and mass recovery system (WHMRS) is presented. Explicit expressions for the transient temperature of the greenhouse inside air, still basin-water, and WHMRS have been developed so as to study the thermal performance of the integrated system. The effects of the system flow resistance, thermal chimney height, still basin-water heat capacity, WHMRS heat capacity and effectiveness, and environmental conditions have been studied. On the basis of the numerical results, it was found that the integrated system is able to ventilate the greenhouse for the 24 h with an air flow rate which varies from 0.1 kg/s at midnight to 1.0 kg/s at midday. The corresponding ventilation air change rate ACR varies from 1.2 to 12 ACR/h, respectively. The ventilation air rate increases with increasing chimney height or decreasing system flow resistance. The system daily yield of fresh wate varies from 1.26 to 1.82 kg/m2 and increases with increasing basin-water and WHMRS heat capacities and WHMRS effectiveness or decreasing flow resistance. The integrated system is simple, passive and presents an exciting possibility for support of agricultural activities in hot and rural regions.
