Productivity Enhancement of Solar Still Using Shallow Solar Pond

Solar desalination is a cost-effective method to achieve clean water for drinking purposes in coastal and remote areas that need only solar energy. But the low distillate output is the main concern. The primary objective of this study is to improve the distilled water produced by a solar still at night and on cloudy days. This is achieved by raising the temperature of the water in the basin. The study also investigates the effect of water depth (4–7 cm) in the basin on the amount of distilled produced by the solar still. To enhance the solar still's performance, modifications have been made by connecting it to a shallow solar pond using a heat exchanger. A batch mode time interval has been employed for an external heat transfer from solar pond. The solar still with the optimal basin water depth was integrated to the solar pond and external energy has been transferred from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The maximum productivity is attained with 5 cm depth. Furthermore, by integrating the solar still with the solar pond, a cumulative distilled water output of 4.4 kg/m2 was achieved, marking a significant enhancement of 51.7% compared to the standard solar still.