Enhancement of the Evaporation and Condensation Processes of a Solar Still with an Ultrasound Cotton Tent and a Thermoelectric Cooling Chamber

Abstract

In this paper, an experimental investigation study was conducted to show the effect of enhancing the evaporation and condensation processes inside a modified solar still by placing ultrasonic humidifiers inside a cotton mesh tent in the basin water and by installing a cooling chamber with thermoelectric elements on top of the solar still. Various parameters were recorded every hour, such as temperatures at different points within the solar still, the weather conditions (e.g., solar irradiance intensity, ambient air temperature, and wind speed), the yield of distilled water, and thermal efficiency on 29 July 2021 at the Ural Federal University (Russia). The production cost of distilled water from modified and traditional solar stills was also estimated. The experimental results showed that the productivity of the modified solar still increased by 124% compared with the traditional solar still, and the highest thermal efficiency was recorded at 2:00 p.m. (approximately 95.8% and 35.6% for modified and traditional solar stills, respectively). Finally, the productivity cost of distillate water (1 L) was approximately 0.040 and 0.042 $/L for the modified and traditional solar stills, respectively. The current work has contributed to increasing solar still productivity by applying simple and new technologies with the lowest possible capital and operational costs. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.