Performance improvement of a passive solar still in a water desalination

Abstract

Using a solar energy in water desalination system is regarded as one of the most effective ways to resolve the problem of freshwater shortages in this world. Experimental and theoretical approaches were carried out to design and test multistage solar still. The experimental tests were conducted for five months in the city of Kirkuk, north of Iraq, at 43.39° longitudinal and 35.17° latitude. The performance requirement of the design is dependent on many factors such as circumstances, work and designation variables. Designating variables, mainly length, width, height and volume of each stage besides the number of all stages, are determined via theoretical analysis approach. The results obtained by both approaches have shown that there is a 10% deviation in still water productivity. Also, the results indicated that the minimum and maximum daily average of still water productivity is 1.7 and 3.8 kg. MATLAB software was employed to model and simulate the experimental processes of evaporation and condensation. The simulation model results were found to agree well with the experiments carried out in many other papers and studies. The test results reported that the system produces about 5 kg of clean water per day with 87% distillation efficiency and 26% of the overall efficiency due to heat losses in the system. Such system is not only promising, but can offer a new technology that can particularly be used in remote and rural areas. The theoretical calculations were compared with the experimental results, and there is a good agreement between the two.