Enhancing inclined solar still performance for effective desalination: A comparative study on combination of bamboo wick and metal energy storage materials

Abstract

Worldwide, water scarcity is a serious environmental issue. Solar stills offer a better solution for these environmental problems, with low cost and low environmental impact compared to RO and thermal desalination, wastewater recycling, and atmospheric water generators. The purpose of this study is to investigate the energy, productivity, and exergy efficiency of inclined solar still using a combination of several energy storage materials, including mild steel, cast iron, and copper, with bamboo wick material. The study uses several cases, including Case 1: Conventional ISS; Case 2: ISS with Bamboo Wick Material; Case 3: ISS with Bamboo and Mild Steel; Case 4: ISS with Bamboo and Cast Iron; and Case 5: ISS with Bamboo Material and Copper Energy Storage Material, to compare and determine the best performance. According to study findings, Case 5 outperforms all other cases examined regarding water productivity, energy, and exergy efficiency. Case 5 achieved the highest cumulative productivity of 4953 ml, which is higher than the other cases by 53.8, 41.2, 26.7, and 10.1 %. The maximum average efficiency attained is 53.6 % by case 5. In comparison to cases 1, 2, 3, and 4, case 5′s average energy efficiency is 49.5, 31.3, 19.3, and 8 % higher; in addition, case 5′s average exergy efficiency is 132.9, 56.4, 22.1, and 8 % higher. According to an economic analysis of inclined solar stills, distilled water costs 0.023$ per litre. An economic and environmental analysis of inclined solar stills has been conducted and the findings indicate that the ISS with case 5 is 1.21 times more efficient than the conventional ISS system.