Methods used to improve solar still performance with generated turbulence for water desalination- detailed review

Abstract

In everyday living, the need for fresh water is crucial. The most pressing problem in developing nations is the ongoing lack of access to clean water. In many ways, the solar still is a great source of freshwater for both drinking and cultivation, it is one of the most popular essential and technically practicable sun energy uses. This study lists studies on solar stills with different methods of creating turbulence to enhance solar stills productivity in an effort to offer a full picture of current scientific advancements. These methods serve to induce turbulence in basin water and break the thermal boundary layer between still surface and water to enhance the evaporation. The use of turbulence devices converts free evaporation to forced evaporation, which increases the evaporation rate. Spraying unit, air bubbles, vibratory harmonic effect, stirring turbulence, rotating parts and ultrasonic fogger were used to create water turbulence. Diverse results (productivity and enhancement) demonstrated shown the importance of spraying unit (5400 mL/m2/day −56%), air bubbles (5490 mL/m2/day–21.96%), stirring turbulence (5400 mL/m2/day −39.49%), and ultrasonic fogger (6270 mL/m2/day– 83.87%). The benefit of this review is that it will allow for a systematic understanding of the role and influence of each thermal-methods on the daily productivity rate using various turbulence techniques.

Keywords

• Review of solar stills
• Ultrasonic fogger
• Rotating parts
• Vibratory harmonic effect
• Stirring turbulence
• Nanoparticles