Parameters affecting the performance of a low cost solar still

Applied Energy xxx (2013) xxx–xxx

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Applied Energy

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Parameters affecting the performance of a low cost solar still

0306-2619/$ - see front matter � 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.08.066

⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineer-ing, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Tel.: +60 38946 4492; fax: +60 3 8656 7129.

E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (A. Ahsan).

Please cite this article in press as: Ahsan A et al. Parameters affecting the performance of a low cost solar still. Appl Energy (2013), http://dx.d10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.08.066

A. Ahsan a,b,⇑, M. Imteaz c, U.A. Thomas a, M. Azmi a, A. Rahman d, N.N. Nik Daud a

a Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysiab Materials Processing and Technology Lab, Institute of Advanced Technology, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysiac Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australiad School of Engineering, University of Western Sydney, Penrith South, Sydney, NSW 1797, Australia

h i g h l i g h t s

� The triangular solar still is designed using cheap & durable materials.� The initial water depth has an inverse relationship with the production.� The water productivity is nearly proportional to the solar radiation.� The water quality parameters are within the accepted ranges of drinking water.

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 23 October 2012Received in revised form 6 August 2013Accepted 23 August 2013Available online xxxx

Keywords:Triangular solar stillWater productionWater depthDistillate qualitySolar radiation

a b s t r a c t

This study aims at developing a low cost technique to be used in rural and coastal areas for convertingsaline water into potable water using solar energy. A triangular solar still (TrSS) was, therefore, designedand developed with cheap, lightweight, local and available materials. A number of field experiments werecarried out to evaluate the effects of solar radiation intensity, ambient air temperature and the initialwater depth on the daily water production of the TrSS. A time lag of about and hour between the hourlypeaks of solar radiation and water production is observed. Finally, a few essential relationships wereattained, e.g. between the daily production and the initial water depth, between the daily productionand daily solar radiation, and between the daily production and the average ambient temperature. Theeffect of the initial water depth in the basin on the daily water productivity was evaluated by varyingthe water depths (1.5, 2.5 and 5 cm) with the climatic condition of Malaysia and an inverse proportionalrelationship was revealed between them. However, the daily water productivity is nearly proportional tothe daily solar radiation. In addition, some important water quality parameters were tested in the labo-ratory to evaluate the distillate quality and were then compared with the drinking water standards.

� 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Many researchers have investigated on solar stills of different

In underdeveloped and developing countries, many remote andcoastal areas do not have enough resources of electric power forproducing potable water using any conventional desalination tech-niques; namely multi-stage flash, reverse osmosis and vapor com-pression. The initial installment cost, and the operation andmaintenance cost of these techniques are very high and are farbeyond the fiscal recourses solvency in most local areas. In addition,a water pipe line distribution system is not available in these re-gions, and the road network and transportation system are insuffi-cient to carry a large amount of potable water regularly fromdesalination plant area to the consumers [1]. From the above rea-sons, solar distillation is most suitable and required in these regions.

designs, e.g. simple-type [2,3], single basin [4,5], double basin[6], tubular [7–11], triangular [12], pyramid [13] and hemispheri-cal solar stills [14–16]. The performance of solar still has beenimproved using a hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system[17], an evacuated tubular collector integrated still [18], a concen-trator with a phase change material [19], air flow integrated tubu-lar still [20], asymmetrical still with different insulations [21] and asun tracking photovoltaic system [22]. Besides, solar still was alsoused to refine and treat wastewater [23]. A complicated system is,however, generally costly and may require regular monitoring withskilled personnel, which makes the complicated system unsuitablein remote and coastal areas [24].

In general, there are two sorts of factors that influence theproductivity of a solar still: climate and operating conditions. Theclimate condition mainly includes solar intensity, wind velocity,and ambient temperature, while operating condition mainlyincludes the cover angle, the material coated on the basin, the

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Nomenclature

dw initial water depth in the trough/basin (cm)EC electrical conductivity (lS/cm)Ph hourly production rate (ml/h or kg/m2 h)Pd total daily water production (kg/m2 d)RHha relative humidity of the humid air (%)Rs solar radiation or daily radiation flux (mV or W/m2 d)TDS total dissolved solids (ppm)

Tw temperature of water (�C)Tha temperature of humid air (�C)Tt temperature of trough (�C)Ta temperature of ambient air (�C)TrSS triangular solar stillWHO World Health Organization

Table 1Fabrication cost of a triangular solar still.

Items Quantity Unit cost Cost (RM)

Polythene for cover (0.15 mm thickness) 1.66 m2 RM1.44/m2 2.39PVC pipe for frame (15 mm diameter) 9 m RM10.80/m 97.20Perspex for trough (3 mm thickness) 0.376 m2 RM15.625/m2 5.87Nylon rope 50 m RM11.90/roll 5.95Transparent scotch tape 2 m RM1.99/roll 0.67Total 112.10

Note: PVC = polyvinyl chloride; US$ 1 � RM 3.2.

2 A. Ahsan et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2013) xxx–xxx

water depth, the temperature difference between the water andcover, and the insulation [25].

Nafey et al. [26] investigated on the main parameters affectingsolar still performance under the weather conditions of the SuezGulf area by using four single-sloped solar still units. The devel-oped equation relates the dependent and independent variableswhich control the daily productivity and could be used to predictthe daily productivity with a reasonable confidence level. The ef-fect of the solar radiation on productivity has been investigatedin many publications [26–28]. It is found that the solar radiationis the most affecting parameter on the still productivity [29]. Thefresh water productivity of the still is generally proportional to dai-ly solar radiation. However, the measured ambient temperature islower than other temperatures [30]. The production rate dependson water, glass and atmospheric temperatures, water–glass tem-perature difference and glass-atmospheric temperature difference[31,32]. Tsilingiris [33] observed errors in temperature measure-ment and implications on performance.

Dev et al. [34] studied on the inverted absorber solar still (IASS)with various water depths and total dissolved solids (TDS) inOman. It is observed that for the climatic condition of Oman, theoptimum water depth for the IASS was 0.03 m, above which theaddition of reflector under the basin does not affect its perfor-mance much more in comparison to that of the simple solar stillfor sea water. Tarawneh [35] studied on the effect of water depthon the productivity of a solar still in Jordan. Different depths ofbrackish water (0.5, 2, 3 and 4 cm) with the TDS of 5000 ppm weretested under the same climatic condition. The obtained resultsshowed that the decreased water depth has a significant effecton the increased water productivity, while the performance char-acteristics showed that the water productivity was closely relatedto the incident solar radiation intensity. The similar results werealso obtained for a basin type solar still in Turkey [36] and Jordan[37].

Fig. 1. Triangular solar still, (a) schematic diagram

Please cite this article in press as: Ahsan A et al. Parameters affecting the pe10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.08.066

The present study aims at developing an eco-friendly technol-ogy, triangular solar still (TrSS), at lower cost to convert salinewater into potable water using solar energy in rural and coastalareas. Furthermore, this study aims to improve the performanceand to increase its productivity. It is, therefore, required to evaluatea few important parameters affecting the daily water productivity.The effects of some design and operational parameters (e.g. solarradiation intensity, ambient air temperature and the initial waterdepth) on the performance of the TrSS were investigated. Addition-ally, some important parameters (e.g. pH and salinity) were testedin the laboratory to evaluate the product water quality.

2. TrSS and its water production principle

Fig. 1(a) and (b) shows the schematic diagram and the photo-graph of experimental set-up of the TrSS, respectively. The TrSSis comprised of a frame, a triangular cover and a rectangular troughinside the cover. The frame, cover and trough are made of PVC pipe,polythene film and Perspex, respectively. The frame can restrainthe deformation of a polythene film used as a triangular cover.

and (b) photograph of experimental set-up.

rformance of a low cost solar still. Appl Energy (2013), http://dx.doi.org/



Table 2Water quality parameters of product water from seawater and synthetic saline water.

Parameters Seawater Synthetic water(3% salt)

WHO standards [38,39]

Before After Before After

pH 8.7 7.7 8.18 7.29 6.5–8.5a

Redox (mV) 163.2 171.7 195.5 80.51 -EC (lS/cm) 43.37 11.6 39.05 5.06 <250TDS (ppm) 28.11 7.52 25.31 3.28 <600Salinity (ppm) 22.49 6.01 20.25 2.62 <250b

Note: Redox = oxidation reduction; EC = electrical conductivity; TDS = total dis-solved solids.

a Desirable limit.b Salinity as chloride content.

A. Ahsan et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2013) xxx–xxx 3

The length, height and width of the TrSS are 1, 0.44 and 0.5 m,respectively. Thus, the total land area required to install a TrSS isabout 0.8 m2. The trough is 0.8 m in length, 0.1 m in height and0.2 m in width. Therefore, the maximum amount of water thatcan be contained by the trough is about 16 kg.

The TrSS was designed for ease of operation and was fabricatedusing local, available, cheap and durable materials. The fabricationmaterials are polythene film, PVC pipe, Perspex, nylon rope andscotch tape. The total cost of fabricating a TrSS was calculated asRM 112 (Table 1). The durability of the PVC pipe, polythene filmand Perspex are warranted for 3, 5 and 5 years, respectively. Read-ers are refereed to the references [17,29] for the life cycle cost anal-ysis of the tubular solar still and the single slope hybrid (PV/T)active solar still, respectively.

The cover of the basin-type solar still is usually made of heavyglass and cannot be made easily in remote and coastal village areas.The price of glass is expensive as well. On the other hand, the vinylchloride sheet is available, but expensive and the durability is com-paratively less, i.e. 2 years [24]. Therefore, the polythene film is se-lected as the cover material of the TrSS to overcome those difficulties.

The water production principle of the TrSS is simple. The solarradiant heat is mostly absorbed by the saline water. The rest isabsorbed by the cover and the trough. Thus, the saline water isheated up and evaporated. The water vapor density increases withthe evaporation and then the water vapor is condensed on the cov-er. Finally, the condensed water naturally trickles down and isstored into a collector.

3. Materials and methods

A series of field experiments were performed on different watersamples to evaluate the performance of the TrSS. Seawater sampleswere taken from Malacca strait, Port Dickson, Malaysia. Syntheticsaline water samples were prepared by mixing controlled amountof pure vacuum salt with tap water, i.e. 3% salt. The field experi-ments of the TrSS were carried out in the campus of EngineeringFaculty, UPM. Some thermocouples were used to obtain the tem-peratures of water, trough, cover and humid air. Two thermocou-ples were attached on the trough for measuring the temperaturesof the trough and water. Five thermocouples were firmly attachedat different positions on the cover. A thermohygrometer and a ther-mocouple were hanged inside the still to measure the relativehumidity and temperature of the humid air, respectively. Anotherthermocouple was placed outside to measure the ambient temper-ature. These thermocouples, thermohygrometer and a pyranometerfor measuring solar radiation were then connected to a data loggerto record the real-time data. An electrical balance was used to mea-sure the hourly produced water amount. Laboratory experimentswere conducted to evaluate the quality of distilled water produced.The ‘ODEON advanced digital meter’ (X Line, Ponsel Mesure, France)was used to observe the water quality parameters instantly.

4. Results and discussion

The effects of the solar radiation, water depth and ambient tem-perature on the hourly and daily water production were observed.A most important relationship between the daily water productionand daily solar radiation was obtained.

4.1. Water quality parameters

Table 2 presents the water quality parameters of the productwater from seawater and synthetic saline water with the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) standards for drinking water. The pHvalues were reduced to 7.7 and 7.29 (after experiment) from 8.7


and 8.18 (before experiment), respectively. The electrical conductiv-ity (EC) values prior to the experiment were 43.4 and 39.1 lS/cmwhich reduced to 11.6 and 5.1 lS/cm, respectively. The pH andEC values of the product water are within the WHO limits of drink-ing water (Table 2). The total dissolved solids (TDS) and salinityvalues are less than the WHO limits (250 mg/l for both) as well[38]. In accordance to the WHO guidelines, the palatability of waterwith the TDS less than 600 mg/l is generally considered to be good[39]. All of these measured parameters of the product water arewithin the accepted ranges of the WHO guidelines for drinkingwater.

4.2. Variations of temperatures, relative humidity, production andsolar radiation

Fig. 2(a) and (b) shows the diurnal variations of the tempera-tures of water, humid air, trough and ambient air (Tw, Tha, Tt andTa, respectively), the relative humidity of the humid air (RHha),and of the hourly production rate (Ph) with the solar radiation(Rs) on January 1, 2012, respectively. It is revealed that the highestTw, Tha, Tt were observed when Rs was the highest at about1:00 pm. The values of Tha were almost higher than Tw and Tt

throughout the experimental periods with the maximum Tha ofabout 63 �C occurred at around 1:00 pm. The highest Tw of about54 �C was also observed at around 1:00 pm. The values of Tw arevery close to Tt and almost overlap each other. The similar behaviorwas observed for other experimented days as shown in Figs. 3(a),4(a), 5 and 7. The Tc values were almost always lower than theTw throughout the day and the average Tw � Tc was observed as5 �C (Figs. 5 and 7).

Figs. 2(a), 3(a) and 4(a) show that RHha was remarkably below100%, i.e. the humid air was definitely not saturated. The lowestvalue was observed as about 40%, 43% and 38% at around noonon January 1 and 27, and February 1, 2012, respectively. The humidair is not saturated, it is, therefore, necessary to include its proper-ties in heat and mass transfer modeling of solar stills.

Most of the numerical models of the solar still based on aconvection heat transfer have been described using temperatureand vapor pressure in water and cover, without noting the pres-ence of intermediate medium, i.e. humid air [14,40–43]. However,the humid air is definitely not saturated in the daytime from thefield experiments conducted. Therefore, the incorporation of thehumid air properties in numerical modeling should be requiredto predict not only the evaporation but also the condensation. Inaddition, a complete theoretical relation of evaporation and con-densation mass or heat transfers inside a solar still has not beenfully developed. Dunkle [44] studied a basin-type solar still butthe humid air properties were not considered in his relations.However, these relations are still being used as noted by someresearchers [31,42], although objections have been raised sporadi-




Fig. 2. Diurnal variations of (a) temperatures and relative humidity and (b) water production and solar radiation on January 1, 2012.

Fig. 3. Diurnal variations of (a) temperatures and relative humidity and (b) water production and solar radiation on January 27, 2012.

Fig. 4. Diurnal variations of (a) temperatures and relative humidity and (b) water production and solar radiation on February 1, 2012.


cally about the predictive accuracy of the fundamental Dunkle’smodel [45].

In addition, Fig. 2(b) shows that the maximum Ph was notoccurred at the peak period of Rs but when it tends to drop, i.e.at the next hour. Therefore, a time lag of about an hour betweenthe hourly peaks of Rs and Ph is found for all the cases (Figs. 3(b),4(b), 6 and 8).


4.3. Relationship between water production and water depth

The initial water depth in the trough (dw) was observed to haverelative effect on Ph. Fig. 2(b) shows that Ph is much higher for2.5 cm of dw than that for 5 cm. Similarly, Figs. 3(b), 4(b), 6 and 8show that the higher hourly distillate output was obtained whenthe dw was set at 1.5 cm compared to that of 2.5 cm. The total daily




Fig. 5. Diurnal variations of various temperatures on December 7, 2011.

Fig. 7. Diurnal variations of various temperatures on December 14, 2011.

Fig. 6. Effect of water depth on hourly production on December 7, 2011. Note: TSS1 = 2.5 cm initial water depth; TSS 2 = 1.5 cm initial water depth.

Fig. 8. Effect of water depth on hourly production on December 14, 2011. Note: TSS1 = 2.5 cm initial water depth; TSS 2 = 1.5 cm initial water depth.

Fig. 9. Variations of water production with water depth.

Fig. 10. Relation between daily production and average daily ambient temperature.

Fig. 11. Relation between daily production and daily solar radiation.


water production (Pd) was observed as 1.6 and 1.55 kg/m2 d for 1.5and 2.5 cm of dw, respectively (Fig. 6). In Fig. 8, 0.57 kg/m2 d of Pd

was obtained at 1.5 cm and 0.45 kg/m2 d at 2.5 cm of dw. It wasobserved that the production at 1.5 cm of dw was higher than thatof 2.5 cm for all experimented days. It implies that Ph decreaseswith the increase in dw and vice versa. This increase in productivity


could be attributed to the higher heat absorption capacity of thewater at lower water depth that resulted to the higher water tem-perature and consequent increase in evaporation rate. It is evidentthat Tw especially in morning at 1.5 cm was higher than that of at2.5 cm of dw (Figs. 6 and 8). It is, therefore, concluded that the pro-ductivity is maximum at least water depth. The same finding wasalso noticed for a basin type solar still in Jordan [35] and Turkey[36].

An inverse proportional relationship between dw and Pd couldbe obtained by plotting a normalized trendline based on the fieldexperimental results as shown in Fig. 9. It implies that the increas-ing of dw will decrease Pd and the regression can be expressed as,Pd = 3.84–0.47 dw, when 1 6 dw P 6 cm.

4.4. Relationship between water production and ambient temperature

Fig 10 shows a relationship between Pd and Ta (daily average).At the minimum Ta of 28.55 �C, Pd was obtained as 0.4 kg/m2 d.The maximum Pd of 1.55 kg/m2 d was occurred at the highest Ta

of 33 �C. Therefore, it implies that Ta has a relative effect on Pd.





4.5. Relationship between daily water production and solar radiation

Fig. 11 shows a relationship between Pd and Rs (daily total). Atthe minimum Rs of 2000 W/m2 d, Pd was 0.4 kg/m2 d. The highestRs of 4362 W/m2 d witnessed 1.55 kg/m2 d of the highest Pd. It is,therefore, concluded that Pd is related to the amount of Rs. Thisconclusion is supported by many investigators researched on thedifferent designs of solar stills [26,28,35]. However, other ambientconditions can affect on the water production, e.g. wind speed,ambient temperature and sunshine duration. Note that the noctur-nal water production amount from the TrSS is not included in Pd.

5. Conclusions

The paper aims at developing an eco-friendly technology ataffordable cost for saline water treatment in rural and coastalareas. Therefore, a low cost triangular solar still (TrSS) wasdesigned and developed with cheap, lightweight, local and avail-able materials. The effects of solar radiation intensity, ambientair temperature and the initial water depth on the daily productiv-ity of the TrSS were observed for the climatic condition of Malaysia.Finally, it is concluded that the daily water productivity is inverselyproportional to the initial water depth in the TrSS. However, thestill productivity is nearly proportional to the daily solar radiation.The ambient temperature has a relative effect on the productivityas well. The product water quality parameters are within theaccepted ranges of drinking water guidelines of the World HealthOrganization. Therefore, it is concluded that the TrSS is able to pro-vide potable water from saline water for the drinking purpose. Afew following recommendations are proposed.

The highest performance of the TrSS could be obtained duringthe summer season. Therefore, the suitable time period,March–May, is proposed for solar desalination in Malaysia.

A few experiments can be performed by using a pump to circu-late the water in the trough continuously. The salinity may be in-creased after evaporation and therefore it may delay the furtherevaporation process. Consequently, the daily water productionamount might be affected.

Acknowledgements

The support provided by the University Putra Malaysia, Malaysiaunder Research University Grant Scheme (RUGS), 05-05-10-1063RU, 9199672 is acknowledged. Authors gratefully acknowledgeMr. Ali Riahi, Ms. Nur Syuhada, Dr. Suhaidi, Dr. A.H. Ghazali and Prof.Thamer for their kind cooperation.

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Parameters affecting the performance of a low cost solar still