Mix wettability surface on solar still cover for freshwater productivity enhancement
Water purification using renewable energy sources is prevalent to produce clean water for human consumption and sanitation. Solar still is a water distillation method that uses solar energy as a heat source to produce fresh water. Selection of a solar still condensing cover material remains a chal...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/97768/1/97768_Mix%20wettability%20surface%20on%20solar.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/97768/ https://www.journals.elsevier.com/desalination |
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| Summary: | Water purification using renewable energy sources is prevalent to produce clean water for human consumption and
sanitation. Solar still is a water distillation method that uses solar energy as a heat source to produce fresh water.
Selection of a solar still condensing cover material remains a challenge, particularly for enhancing the condensate
formation and collection. Therefore, the application of a mixed wettability surface on the solar still condensing
cover is examined and investigated. A commercial water-based silicone coating is used on a glass cover with
different surface areas. The contact angle and surface profile for both coated area and uncoated area of the surface
was examined to measure the wettability of the surfaces. The freshwater output was observed for the solar still at a
steady-state condition in a laboratory experiment. The addition of coating showed improvement to the solar still
productivity with the highest freshwater output at 30% coated surface area. However, by increasing the coating
surface area above 50%, the inner cover temperature increased due to the increase in thermal resistance from the
coating layer. A coating surface area of below 50% showed to be more cost-effective compared to a bare glass cover. |
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