Annual Yield, Energy and Economic Analysis of Tubular Solar Stills with Phase Change Material and Nano-enhanced Phase Change Material

This manuscript presented the annual yield, energy and economic analysis of the Tubular Solar Stills (TSS). Three different TSS such as conventional TSS (CTSS), modified TSS with Phase Change Material (MTSS-PCM) and modified TSS with nano-enhanced PCM (MTSS-NPCM). The annual yield output from the CTSS, MTSS-PCM and MTSS-PNCM were 1100.8, 1536 and 2020.4 kg, respectively. The annual yield from the MTSS-PCM and MTSS-NPCM are 28.33 and 45.57% higher when compared to the CTSS. Also, the monthly energy efficiency of the CTSS, MTSS-PCM and MTSS-PNCM were 27.11, 37.83 and 49.81%, respectively. As the performance of the MTSS-NPCM was enhanced, the cost of freshwater yield obtained was also low in contrast to the other two types of stills. At a selling price of Rs 5 for the freshwater, the CTSS needed a payback period of 7.6 months, while the MTSS-PCM and MTSS-NPCM needed 6.6 and 5.3 months, respectively.