Enhancing the Productivity of a Roof-Type Solar Still Utilizing Alumina Nanoparticles and Vacuum Pump

Abstract

Unlike conventional fresh water producing systems, from saline or brackish water, the innovative solar water producing systems are efficient and effective. Experiments were conducted on two identical roof-type solar stills and simultaneously tested under the same weather conditions. One of these stills was modified by integrating a vacuum pump to lower the pressure inside while the other still was used as a reference unit. Different concentrations of Al2O3 nanoparticles were chosen, 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.6%, and used with water inside the modified still. It was verified that the modified still, without nanoparticles, yields 34.84% more production than the conventional still. In addition, the modified still with a 0.4% of Al2O3 nanoparticles produced the highest percentage of distilled water, 44.42% in comparison to the one without the use of Al2O3 nanoparticles, followed by 37.94% and 24.07% for 0.6% and 0.2% of Al2O3 nanoparticles, respectively.

Keywords

• nanoparticles
• Solar still
• water desalination
• vacuum pump