A thermodynamic review on solar stills
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Abstract
The supply and quality of water is still a problem in undeveloped or developing nations. Researchers from different countries have developed various distillation or desalination techniques among which solar distillation is a good option to obtain fresh water. Solar stills are promising technologies to meet the freshwater demand; hence intensive efforts are also made day after day to improve their design for a high productivity yield along with a cost reduction. In the present work, solar stills have been investigated based upon the thermodynamic approach for the first time in literature. A review has been done to highlight the research gap for a scope for future studies and thus, this study focuses on various designs of still and their heat transfer mechanism. Solar stills are evaluated over significant performance parameters such as; design, cost, energy and exergy efficiency , productivity, portability, reliability, and sustainability. Potential challenges of solar stills along with future prospects are discussed. This review also provides potential techniques of performance improvement along with the techno-economic feasibility of solar stills. Therefore, the present study is a gateway to the professionals and new entrants to get much detailed information about solar stills as well as it suggests some potential research work for the future.