Improvising the efficiency of single-sloped solar still using thermally conductive nano-ferric oxide

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 27; no. 26; pp. 32191 - 32204
• Main Authors: Balachandran, Gurukarthik Babu, David, Prince Winston, Mariappan, Rajesh Kannan, Kabeel, Abd Elnaby, Athikesavan, Muthu Manokar, Sathyamurthy, Ravishankar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-09-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Absorbents; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Ferric oxide; Hematite; Microparticles; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; New technology; Renewable Energy and Water Sustainability; Saline water; Thermal conductivity; Waste Water Technology; Water depth; Water levels; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water scarcity; Nano; Single-sloped solar still; Thermal conductive coating; Absorbent layer; Ferric oxide; Desalination
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-06661-2

The world is facing a severe shortage of freshwater, and so we are in urge to fetch new technologies to resolve water scarcity. To desalinate saline water, the single-sloped solar still (SSSS) has proven to be a viable option with much affordability. This research work concentrates on the usage of nanomaterial on the absorbent layer to improve the thermal conductivity of the basin area and thus the distillate produced per hour. The micro-coated and nano-Fe
2
O
3
particles were employed and analyzed. The experiment proved that the implementation of this idea had a better productivity rate. The nanoparticles and microparticles were added at weight proportions of 10%. The experiment was conducted on two consecutive days. On the first day, the saline water was maintained at 0.5 cm depth, while on the next day, the saline water level was maintained at 1 cm. The cumulative yield for micro absorbent layer solar still (MALSS) was 3.23 kg/m
2
and nanoabsorbent layer solar still (NALSS) was 4.39 kg/m
2
.