Impact of salty water medium and condenser on the performance of single acting solar still incorporated with parabolic trough collector

Abstract

The impact of salty water medium and condenser type on the performance of single slope solar still is experimentally performed. Two solar still types are examined; conventional solar still with glass condenser (CSS) and solar still with plated finned heat sink condenser (MSS). The study is investigated for three saline water mediums in the still basin; pure saline water, sand saturated with saline water and steel wire meshes submerged inside the saline water. These stills are investigated in case of still only or still incorporated with parabolic trough collector (PTC) in hot and cold climate conditions of upper Egypt. Findings show that utilizing wire mesh, sand and heat sink condenser (HSC) raises the still freshwater yield and efficiency. The maximum freshwater yield rising in summer is 67%, 7.3% and 6% due to using PTC, HSC, and sand, respectively compared to CSS. The efficiency of all still systems in summer is found greater than winter. Moreover, utilizing HSC raises the still efficiency by 11.6% in summer and 8% in winter compared to CSS. MSS achieves the greatest efficiency of 41.95% in summer and 31.96% in winter while MSS+sand+PTC accomplishes the minimum freshwater cost with a decrease of 25.2% compared to CSS.