Improving the Stepped Distiller Performance in Combination with Vertical Corrugated Wick Solar Still and Finned Absorber

This work studied a new advancement in solar distillation that combines altered modified stepped solar stills (STSSs) with 3 novel features: STSS with vertical corrugated wick SS (MSTSS-VCWSS), MSTSS with finned wick absorber (MSTSS-FWA) and paraffin wax containing silver nanoparticles (PCM-Ag-NPs).The rising water issue caused by population increase and loss of freshwater resources was the driving force behind the research.According to experimental data, the highest freshwater production was obtained for MSTSS-FWA with VCWSS and PCMs-Ag, where the combined productivity of the MSTSS-FWA+VCWSS+ PCMs-Ag reached 11950 ml/m/d, representing a substantial 273% increase over conventional SS.Water costs $0.028 per lire for CSS and $0.011 per liter for MSTSS-FWA+VCWSS+ PCMs-Ag.