Conical Solar Distiller Performance with Different Aspect Ratios

Abstract

The most popular desalination method is the solar still, but it has poor productivity. In this work, three fixed cone-shaped solar still (CSS) were tested experimentally. Experiments were done simultaneously at three cone heights (H) 25, 50, and 75 cm (CSS-75, CSS-50, and CSS-25), producing three aspect ratios (AR) of 3, 2, and 1, respectively. Experiments were also conducted using different depths of the basin water level (WD = 1, 2, 3 cm) to obtain the optimal water depth. Experiments were carried out based on thermal efficiency, water productivity, and economic studies to confirm its impact on the performance of the presented system. The results indicated that the obtained daily productivity was 5.17, 3.82, and 1.18 liters/m2 at 3, 2, and 1 aspect ratio, respectively, and a water depth of 1 cm. The daily thermal efficiency was 43.1%, 37.9%, and 30.4% for CSS-75 at WD = 1, 2, and 3 cm, respectively. The cost per liter for CSS-75 was 0.015 $, lower than that for CSS-25 by about 233 %.