Progress made in eliminating factors affecting solar stills productivity

Abstract

Water demand continues to rise as the world's population grows. Clean drinking water is a basic requirement for all living organisms, and its shortage is a major global concern. Solar desalination systems have been used and continue to be the problem solver to this challenge. A solar still is a device that generates fresh drinking water from salty or polluted water. This study is aimed at reviewing the progress made in eliminating variables influencing the output of solar stills and identifying a knowledge gap. From the literature that is available on solar stills, it has been observed that the majority of studies focused on parameters influencing freshwater production from solar stills. There is limited literature reporting on solutions for enhancing the output of solar stills. This then creates the need to study further these factors and solutions to enhance the output of solar stills. Industries and researchers who continue to perform work on solar stills will greatly benefit from this paper as it gives insight into factors that affect solar stills so they can take note of these hindrances for future designs.