Augmented Yield Productivity of Solar Still Using Energy Storage Materials: Experimental Investigation Under the Climatic Conditions of Rajasthan

Freshwater scarcity and growing vitality essential are among the most important issues around the world. In the current work, an effort is made to improve the yield of existing single-slope single-basin solar still (SS) with basin area of 1 m2 using various energy absorbing material such as black granite stone, metal scrap of mild steel and nanoparticle Al2O3 in the water basin, and the freshwater yield was compared with and without the energy storing material (ESM) for the water depth of 0.01 m. Yield of freshwater augmented by 11.6%, 25.1% and 33.5% by using metal scrap, black granite and nanofluid Al2O3 inside the water basin, respectively, and the full day efficiency augmented by 15.5%, 26.8% and 33.6% as compared to the conventional SS. It was concluded that the solid nanometric size particle Al2O3 inside the water basin helps in achieving the maximum yield of the freshwater. SS is also proficient to eliminate the impurities of brackish water and convert it to pure and distilled water with PPM ranging below 50 and makes it ideal for the rural Indian villages with economical and hygienic point of view.