Productivity Augmentation of Solar Stills by Coupled Copper Tubes and Parabolic Fins

Abstract

A solar still is an eco-friendly device that makes use of ample solar energy for the purification of water. The main objective of this research is to increase the yield output of a double-slope solar still (DSSS) by coupling the basin liner with copper tubes and parabolic fins. In this work, the experiments were supervised for nine days with three different cases. For these experiments, copper tubes with thickness of 2 mm, outer diameter of 32 mm, inner diameter of 28 mm, and parabolic fins with 30 mm diameter and 50 mm height were considered. In the first case, non-coated copper tubes (NCCTs) were used, in the second case, coated copper tubes (CCTs) were employed, and in the last case, coated copper tubes with a combination of parabolic fins (CCTPFs) were used. The MSS (case-III) demonstrated a substantial yearly productivity enhancement of 57.79%, establishing its superiority in terms of output because of its higher daily distillate yield of 1215 mL/day in contrast to CSS. When compared, case III—CCTPF—performed better than case II—CCT—by 35.75%. The CSS and MSS both contributed to a decrease in the pH of the saline water, which went from 8.18 to 7.64 and 7.23, respectively. In comparison to the MSS and CSS, which had 0.428 mg/L and 0.569 mg/L of fluoride ions, respectively, brine water had a fluoride ion level of 0.734 mg/L. Total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration before desalination was 440 ppm and it was minimized to 20 ppm with MSS and 55 ppm with CSS, respectively, post-desalination. The corresponding cost per liter (CPL) of MSS and CSS is USD 0.053 and USD 0.040, respectively.