EFFECT OF BLACK GRANITE BASIN ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A SINGLE SLOPE SOLAR STILL

Abstract

The aim of this research work is to study the effect of granite basin in solar still and thus enhance the productivity of fresh water. Two single sloped solar still was designed, installed and tested at the Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt (latitude angle of 30.62ºN, Longitude angle of 32.27ºE, and mean altitude above the sea level of 5 m). Two different solar still basins were functioned during this research. One basin is constructed of rectangular black granite and the other is made up of galvanized iron sheet. The two solar stills are covered with clear glass sheet (3 mm thick) with an inclination angle of 31º. Comparison of the productivity of the granite and the conventional solar still, the productivity of the distilled water was enhanced for black granite basin solar still as compared with galvanized iron basin solar still. The productivity of the granite basin solar still was 2430 ml m-2 day-1 , whilst the productivity of the galvanized iron basin still is 1928 ml m-2 day-1. Consequently, granite basin increased the productivity of fresh water by 20.6 % as compared with the galvanized iron sheet basin. Keywords: single slope solar still-Granite basin-galvanized iron basin INTRODUCTION lean water is a basic human necessity, and without water the life will be impossible. Supplying fresh and healthy water is still one of the major problems in different parts of the world especially in arid remote areas (Tiwari, 2003). Sources of fresh water are the great oceans and seas that can be desalinated by various methods including solar energy. Most existing desalination plants use fossil fuel as a source of energy. Although a few techniques such as multi-effect evaporation, multi-stage flash distillation, thin film distillation, vapor compression,