Abstract
The increasing growth of industrialization and population has led to a global shortage of drinkable water, which has compelled scientists to find another approach for supplying this necessity. Solar stills are solar- driven devices that can produce drinkable water, however their production isn't high. An experimental investigation has been conducted using a modified solar still (MSS) and a conventional solar still (CSS). The MSS has been experimented by employing a copper water heating coil, internal reflector, external reflectors, Nano-phase change material (PCM-Ag), and an external condenser. Five sets of experiments comparing MSS and CSS performance were conducted in the same climate. The rise in productivity/thermal efficiency for MSS (heating coil), MSS-R, MSS-R-EC and MSS-R-PCM are 76 %/45.4 %, 134 %/54.1 %, 191 %/62 % and 175 %/60.2 %, respectively. The effect of integrating external reflectors (top and bottom) enhanced the productivity of MSS with internal reflector by about 42 %. Additionally, using an external condenser enhanced MSS-R production by roughly 57 % when compared to the situation without one. Finally, using PCM boosted MSS-R productivity by around 41 % over the case without PCM. Economic analysis was also considered. The price of the produced freshwater from the CSS, MSS-R, and MSS-R-EC, MSS-R-PCM are 0.029, 0.018, 0.018, and 0.024 $/L, respectively.
•Conventional solar still has been modified with copper heating coil.•The modified solar still showed 76 % higher productivity than conventional one.•Internal and external reflectors increased the yield of the modified solar still by 58 %.•Adding external condenser enhanced the modified solar still productivity by 57 %.•Employing Nano-PCM increased the productivity of the modified solar still by 41 %.