Investigation on the performance of modified solar distillation system using different composite materials: An experimental and theoretical study

The present study explores enhancing the productivity of solar still through the utilization of different enhancement configurations, such as Iron Hemispherical Pieces (IHPs) and Steel Wool Pads (SWPs). Two solar stills were used in this study, one of them is a conventional solar still (CSS) as a comparison reference and the other is a modified solar still (MSS) with different enhancement configurations. Different parameters were continuously monitored to evaluate their influence on the efficiency of the solar stills. Mathematical model was performed to calculate the experimental heat transfer coefficients and the productivity for the stills under different amounts of basin water. Energy Efficiency (EE) and Exergy Efficiency (EXE) were employed to analyze their impact for the different configurations. The findings indicated that increasing the number of IHP to 120 IHPs leads to increase the productivity by 35 % compared to 30 IHPs. Using 5 L of water yielded an accumulated productivity of 3800 ml, whereas employing 15 L decreased productivity by 26 %. Moreover, the addition of Steel Wool Pads (SWPs) significantly enhanced productivity by 28 %. Additionally, the MSS + 120IHP configuration exhibited maximum EE and EXE values of 47.53 % and 3.2 %, respectively, with daily average values of 24.53 % and 1.55 % at 5 L of water. Similarly, the MSS + 120IHP + 60SWP configuration attained maximum EE and EXE values of 55.24 % and 3.5 %, respectively, with daily average values of 30.00 % and 1.90 %. Subsequently, the experimental measurements of hourly production were validated against the corresponding theoretical values, demonstrating good agreement between them. Finally the cost evaluation was performed and the MSS has the minimum cost per liter (CPL) compared with the conventional one.