Performance Analysis, and Economic-Feasibility Evaluation of Single-Slope Single-Basin Domestic Solar Still under Different Water-Depths

Abstract

The impact of single-slope solar still with and without flat-plate collector was evaluated experimentally and numerically. Experimental analysis was conducted for four different water depths (3, 6, 9, 12 cm) in on-sunshine hours between 11 AM to 5 PM in Bhopal (23.2599° N, 77.4126° E), India. The thermo efficiency was 51.31% for 3 cm water depth while 24.29% for 12 cm water depth in an active mode of operation. In the case of passive mode, the thermo efficiency was 17.02% for 3 cm water depth and 6.77% for 12 cm water depth. The average exergy efficiency of single-slope solar still is 66.60% for 3 cm depth which is higher than 12 cm depth, i.e., 23.14%. The hourly variation parameters of solar still were also calculated and analyzed. The overall results obtained in the analysis state that solar still performs effectively when coupled with a flat-plate solar collector. According to econometric evaluation, the fabrication expense of a single-slope solar-basin-still is 126.43$ whereas the cost of producing distilled water per day is 1.61$, and the payback period of a single-slope solar-basin-still with FPC is 17.53 months. In a nutshell, the single-slope solar-basin-still design is commercially viable, functional, and technically sustainable, minimizing manufacturing costs in comparison with a traditional solar still, and past findings. The proposed solar still produced remarkable results in all experimental trials.