Numerical and Experimental Study of a Single-Slope Solar Still Integrated with Wick Material and External Condenser

Access to potable water is essential for human existence.This work aims to enhance the performance of single-slope solar still.Two solar stills were employed: A conventional solar still (CSS)served as a reference, and a modified solar still (MSS) which featured a novel design with a floating absorber surface.The objective is to increase the productivity and efficiency of solar still by enhancing the evaporation surface area using wick materials.Multiple ratios of wick material (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) with and without an external condenser were examined to assess their influence on production.Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program was employed to numerically simulate solar distillation under natural and forced convection circumstances, therefore confirming the accuracy of the experimental findings.Based on the outcomes, the increase in productivity reached 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% wick coverage for the MSS were around 33%, 66%, 45%, and 16% higher than the productivity achieved with the CSS, respectively.With the external condenser, the enhancements increased to 35%, 75%, 50%, and 27% compared to the CSS.Daily efficiency of the MSS with wick was 19.19%, while the efficiency increased to 27.13% when both the wick and condenser were used.