Study of Different Parameters Affecting the Productivity of Solar Still for Seawater Desalination under Djiboutian Climate

Abstract

Experimental studies were carried out to determine the influence of solar radiation, temperatures variations, basin water amount, wind speed, glass cover thickness and salinity on the daily production of the distillate output using solar desalination process, namely single slope solar still to produce fresh water from seawater in the context of Djibouti. The temperatures variations increase in relation to solar radiation. Consequently the hourly distillate output increases and reaches a maximum around noon when the solar still receives maximum intensity of solar radiation. An inverse relation is found between glass cover thickness, basin water amount and distillate output production. The variation wind speed has an effect on the daily production; which increases in relation to wind speed. In order to assess the effect of salinity on the daily production, the solar still is provided with brackish water to compare the daily production obtained from seawater. Experimental results show that the cumulative productivity decreases when there is an increase of salinity. In addition, the quality of the distillate output was tested by measuring TDS, EC, pH, hardness water and chlorides and was compared to WHO standards. The values obtained for these parameters were in accordance with the requirements of WHO and good removal efficiency for four parameters.