Comparative observation of energy matrix and environ-economy for solar still systems

Abstract In the current scenario, where the water sources are contaminating very fast due to the speedy growth of population and a corresponding increase in the industries and other sectors necessary for the usual growth and survival of mankind. Hence, the water consumption goes up tremendously and the adverse effect that gives the contaminated water all around us as a byproduct. So, it must have self-sustainable and long-lasting water treatment technology that has higher energy payback time, better lifecycle energy conversion efficiency with a cheaper establishment that has the least adverse effects on the environment. In the same perspective, the current effort is based on the comparative observations of the single sloped and double sloped solar stills having different combinations of arrangements in that to take the comparable performances accordingly. And, it is recommended that out of the four different associations (fins with circular and square structures, cotton wick, and jute wick), solar still system having square fin structure shows the best results also having the least embodied energy i.e. 379.62 kWh in comparison to the other combining arrangement solar still systems in this current work. This system produces yield by 4.55 l for the 1 m2 effective still basin area per day and equivalent saving of 36600 kg CO2 for its entire life of working i.e. 30 yrs of serving life of the system. Furthermore, the corresponding earning of monetary value based on the carbon credit earned have been analyzed as $365.63 with relative payback with 0.48 yrs, and sequential conversion efficiency of the still system reported as 0.44 out of the proposed systems in this work.