Investigation on solar stills having floating plates

Potable water is always a need of every human being in the world. Only one third of water is potable water, and two thirds of water is saline water, which is not used for drinking purposes. Solar still is a device, which converts the saline or brackish water into drinkable water. Here, in place of saline water, industrial wastewater is used to convert potable water. In this research work, three solar stills have developed by locally available materials and tested in climate conditions of Mehsana (latitude of 23°59′ and the longitude of 72°38′). Among three solar stills, two solar stills are consist of floating plates like aluminum and galvanized iron. Third solar still that is used as a reference solar still is called a conventional solar still. Three-month research showed that solar still, consists of aluminum floating plate, gave considerable daily distillate as well as cumulative output compared with galvanized iron floating plate solar still as well as conventional solar still. Hence, the performance of solar still could increase by the use of aluminum floating plate, which can be used as an energy absorbing plate. © 2012 Panchal and Shah; licensee Springer.