Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 46 (2015) 178188

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Techniques used to improve the performance of the stepped solar

stillA review
A.E. Kabeel a,n, Z.M. Omara b, M.M. Younes b
a
b

Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 15 July 2014
Received in revised form
12 November 2014
Accepted 24 February 2015
Available online 14 March 2015

Solar still is widely used in solar desalination processes. But the productivity of the solar still is very low.
To enhance the productivity of the single basin solar still many research works is being carried out up till
now. The various factors affecting the productivity of solar still are solar intensity, wind velocity, ambient
temperature, waterglass temperature difference, free surface area of water, absorber plate area,
temperature of inlet water, glass angle and depth of water. The solar intensity, wind velocity, ambient
temperature cannot be controlled, as they are metrological parameters. Whereas, the remaining
parameters can be varied to enhance the productivity of the solar stills. Depth of water in the solar
still inversely affects the productivity of the solar still. Maintaining minimum depth in the solar still is
very difcult. For maintaining minimum depth, wicks, plastic water purier and stepped solar still were
used. Investigations indicated that a reduction of the brine depth in the still improves the productivity,
mainly due to the higher basin temperature. So that stepped solar stills can increase the distillate
productivity about conventional solar stills, many reports studied the performance of stepped solar still.
In this review, we are attempting to study the present status of different designs of stepped solar stills.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Stepped solar still
Passive solar still
Solar energy
Review

Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Working of a conventional solar still . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Working of a stepped solar still . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Techniques used to improve the performance of the stepped solar still . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.
Different trays depth, width and shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.
Reectors and condenser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.
Thermal storage material and solar air heater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.
Glass cover cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.
Solar tracking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.6.
Reciprocating spraying system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.7.
Weir type cascade solar still . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.8.
Solar pond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.9.
Wick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.10. Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.11. Different designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 1001543587; fax: +20 403453860.

E-mail address: Kabeel6@hotmail.com (A.E. Kabeel).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.02.053
1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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1. Introduction
The greatest advantage of solar energy as compared with other
forms of energy is that it is clean and can be supplied without any
environmental pollution. Over the past century fossil fuels have
provided most of our energy because these are much cheaper and
more convenient than energy from alternative energy sources, and
until recently environmental pollution has been of little concern.
Clean water is essential for socio-economic development.
Nevertheless, there is limited access to water that meets standard
limits of water quality, especially in the African region. The quality
of water can be improved through desalination. Solar distillation is
a process for distilling saline/brackishwater by using solar energy.
Single basin solar still is a very simple solar device used for
converting available brackish or wastewater into potable water. This
device can be fabricated easily with locally available materials. The
maintenance is also cheap and no skilled labor is required. Moreover, it
can be a suitable solution to solve drinking water problem. However, it
is not popularly used because of its low productivity. Therefore, a
number of works is undertaken to improve the productivity of the still.

2. Working of a conventional solar still

A solar still is a device used for purifying saline/brackish water. In
conventional basin type solar still, the still consists of a shallow airtight
basin lined with a black, impervious material, which contains brackish
or saline water. Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of a solar still. Solar
radiation received at the surface is absorbed effectively by the black
surface and heat is transferred to the water in the basin. Temperature
of the water increases and it increases the rate of evaporation.
A sloping transparent glass cover is provided at the top. Water vapor
produced by evaporation rises upward and condenses on the inner
surface of the glass cover which is relatively cold. Condensed water
vapor trickles down into the trough and from there it is collected in
the storage container as distilled water. The distilled water from a solar

179

still has excellent taste when compared with commercially distilled

water since the water is not boiled (which lowers pH). They are made
of quality materials designed to stand up to the harsh conditions
produced by water and sunlight. Provision is made to add water in the
stills. Puried drinking water is collected from the output collection
port as distillate [1].
The various factors affecting the productivity of solar still [2,3]
are solar intensity, wind velocity, ambient temperature, water
glass temperature difference, free surface area of water, absorber
plate area, temperature of inlet water, glass angle and depth of
water. The solar intensity, wind velocity, ambient temperature
cannot be controlled as they are metrological parameters, whereas
the remaining parameters can be varied to enhance the productivity of the solar stills.

3. Working of a stepped solar still

The depth of water in the solar still inversely affects the productivity of the solar still. Maintaining the minimum depth in the solar
still is very difcult. For maintaining minimum depth, wicks, plastic
water purier and stepped solar still were used. Investigations
indicated that a reduction of the brine depth in the still improves
the productivity, mainly due to the higher basin temperature.
The stepped still has the same construction of conventional
still; in addition, the absorber plate is made of number of steps as
shown in Fig. 2. In addition, number of trays on horizontal side.
Fig. 3 shows a view of the steps with trays on horizontal side.
The glass temperature and basin water temperature of stepped
solar still are higher than that of conventional still. This may be
referred to two reasons: (1) a smaller air volume trapped inside the
still chamber than in the conventional still and therefore heating up
the trapped air will be much faster, and (2) the step-wise basin
provides higher heat and mass transfer surface area than the at
basin [4], thus consequently leads to increase the basin water
temperature of stepped solar still. Also, the high water temperature
leads to increase the evaporation and condensation rate, thus consequently leads to increase the glass temperature of stepped solar still.

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the single basin solar still.

Fig. 3. View of tray and trays on the steps of the stepped still. (a) View of tray.
(b) Trays on horizental side of the steps.

Fig. 2. Stepped solar still.

Fig. 4. Stepped still with different trays depth and width [5].

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Fig. 5. Trays on horizental side and wick on vertical side of the steps [5].

Fig. 7. The photo of stepped solar still with internal reectors [7].

Fig. 8. A photo of the modied stepped solar still with internal and external
(top and bottom) reectors [8].

4.1. Different trays depth, width and shape

Fig. 6. Absorber surface of stepped solar still [6]. (a) Absorber surface of at type
solar still, (b) absorber surface of convex type solar still, (c) absorber surface of
concave type solar still.

So that the stepped still gave higher thermal performance than

conventional stills [5].

4. Techniques used to improve the performance of the stepped

solar still
Researchers have taken efforts to make different designs of
solar still for higher distillate yield and inferred that stepped solar
stills are effective and efcient.

Effect of varying both depth (5, 10 and 20 mm) and width (100, 110,
120 and 130 mm) of trays on the performance of the stepped still was
studied theoretically and experimentally by Kabeel et al. [5]. The step
width was constant and equal 100 mm. The performance of the
modied stepped still, Fig. 4, is tested and compared with a conventional still at the same conditions. A wick on the vertical sides of the
stepped still, Fig. 5, was used. Also the effect of feed water temperature
in the stepped still is investigated by using evacuated tubes solar
collector. The results showed that, maximum productivity of stepped
still is achieved at a tray depth H 5 mm and tray width W 120 mm,
which is about 57.3% higher than that of the conventional still. In this
case the daily efciency and estimated cost of 1 l of distillate for
stepped and conventional solar stills are approximately 53%0.039$
and 33.5%0.049$, respectively. For further augmentation of the yield a
wick on the vertical sides was added to the stepped still. It is found
that the augmentation of the daily productivity of the stepped still by
using wick on the vertical sides approximately from 3% to 5%.
Jagannath and Lalit [6] studied the effect of shape of the absorber
surface of the stepped solar still on the distillate yield. The shape of
the absorber surface (Fig. 6) provided in the basins of stepped solar
stills was at, convex and concave, respectively. When the convex
and concave type stepped solar stills are used, the average daily
water production has been found to be 56.60% and 29.24% higher
than that of at type stepped solar still, respectively. In addition, an
economic analysis was made. The payback period of at type, convex
type and concave type stepped solar still is 823 days, 525 days and
637 days, respectively.

A.E. Kabeel et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 46 (2015) 178188

4.2. Reectors and condenser

The reectors are used to enhance energy input to the stepped still.
The stepped solar still with trays (the tray width bigger than the step
width by 20 mm) and internal reectors was fabricated and investigated by Omara et al. [7]. The photo of modied stepped solar still
with internal reector is shown in Fig. 7. The effect of installing a
reecting mirror on the vertical sides of the steps of stepped still on
the distillate productivity was investigated. An experimental as well as
theoretical investigation is carried out. The productivity of modied
stepped solar still with reectors is higher than that for conventional
still by 75%. The daily efciency of modied stepped with solar still
internal reectors and conventional solar stills is approximately 56%
and 34%, respectively.
In other paper, the performance of the modied stepped solar still
with internal and external (top and bottom) reectors investigated
by Omara et al. [8]. Fig. 8 Shows a photo of the modied stepped
solar still with internal and external (top and bottom) reectors. The
results indicated that, during experimentation the productivity of the
modied stepped solar still with internal and external (top and
bottom) reectors is higher than that for conventional still approximately by 125%. In this case the estimated cost of 1 l of distillate for
stepped still with reectors and conventional solar stills is approximately 0.031$ and 0.049$, respectively.
An experimental study of stepped solar still with reectors
(internal and external) and external condenser was conducted by
El-Samadony et al. [9], the tray width equal the step width equal
100 mm. A comparison between modied stepped solar still and
single basin solar still is carried out to evaluate the developed
desalination system performance under the same climate conditions.
A suction fan is connected with the stepped still from the top back
side to withdraw water vapour and passes it into a condenser. The

Fig. 9. The stepped solar still with reectors and external condenser [9].

181

schematic diagram of the stepped solar still with reectors and

external condenser is shown in Fig. 9. The results showed that
integrating an external condenser with stepped still enhances the
productivity of the stepped solar still. During experimentation,
the productivity of stepped still with condenser is about 66% higher
than that of the conventional still. Also, the results showed that
installing internal and external (top and bottom) reectors lead to
increase the glass temperature (about 9 1C over conventional still) and
thus lead to resistance of condensation. In addition, the saline water
temperature of stepped still is higher than that of conventional still by
about 16 1C. So that using the external condenser was important, so
water productivity of stepped still increased by about 165% over
conventional still, when both of reectors and external condenser
were used.
4.3. Thermal storage material and solar air heater
Velmurugan et al. [10] designed and analyzed a stepped still
with two different depth of trays (Fig. 10). Their experiment were
carried out by integrating small ns in basin plate and adding
sponges in the trays which in turn increases the distilled water
productivity. When ns were used the productivity increased by
76%. And when sponges were used the productivity increased by
60.39%. When combination of both ns and sponges the productivity increased by 96% more than the productivity of ordinary
stepped solar still.
Velmurugan et al. [11] used the previous stepped still and a
settling tank to desalinate the textile efuent (Fig. 11). The efuent
is puried in an efuent settling tank. In this tank, large and ne
solid particles are settled and claried. The settled efuents are
used as raw water in the stepped solar still. For better performance, n, sponge, pebble and combination of the above are used
for enhancing the productivity of the stepped solar still. A maximum increase in productivity of 98% occurs in stepped solar still
when n, sponge and pebbles are used in this basin
Abdullah [12] fabricated stepped solar still at a tray depth of 5 mm
and achieved 30.4% higher productivity than the conventional solar
still, the tray width equal the step width equal 100 mm. The schematic
diagram of the stepped solar still incorporated with solar air heater is
shown in Fig. 12. The hot air from a solar air heater to the stepped still
(Technique1) and aluminum lling as simple solar energy storage
increases the saline water temperature and enhanced the productivity.
By techniques1 and 2 the productivity increases by 65% and 53%,
respectively.
A multi basin solar still is used by Rajan et al. [13] to heighten
the productivity. The multi basin still heat exchanger is placed at
the bottom end of the watershed region. The heat exchanger is
connected to the biomass boiler heat source to create heat energy
(Fig. 13a). The upper watershed is separated into small stepped
basins (Fig. 13b). The heat from lower basin is used by the upper
basin for desalination. A conventional still is fabricated and run
parallel with the experimental setup for comparison. In addition,
different sensible (as cement blocks, sand and glass eggs) and latent
heat storage materials (as water, wax) was used to increase the still
productivity. A higher productivity is obtained for sensible storage
materials when compared to latent heat storage. The role of solid,
sensible heat storage materials in the still improves productivity by
73% than conventional still. Theoretical analysis is performed by
using RSM (response surface methodology) well agrees with experimental values.
4.4. Glass cover cooling

Fig. 10. Schematic diagram of the stepped solar still [10].

A theoretical performance evaluation of a stepped solar still

using water lm cooling over the glass cover was investigated by
El-Samadony and Kabeel [14]. The effect of lm cooling thickness,

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Fig. 11. Schematic diagram of the stepped solar still with settling tank [11].

Fig. 12. The stepped solar still with thermal storage material and glass cooling [12].

Fig. 14. The stepped solar still with lm cooling [14].

Fig. 13. Multi basin solar still [13]. 1. Pump. 2. Biomass boiler. 3. Input tank. 4. Heat
exchanger. 5. Multibasin still. 6. Collecting ask. 7. Stepped basin. 8. Upper basin.
(a) Internal view of lower basin in multi basin still. (b) Internal view of upper basin
in multi basin still.

ow rate, inlet temperature, and air wind speed on the stepped

solar still daily productivity was studied. The schematic diagram of
the stepped solar still with lm cooling is shown in Fig. 14. To
increase the performance of the stepped solar still outlet water lm
cooling is recycled as a makeup water. It was found that lm cooling
thickness, volumetric ow rate, and water lm inlet temperature
have a signicant effect on the daily distillate productivity. The
presence of the glass cover water lm cooling may increase the
stepped still daily productivity by about 8.2% but the value of this

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183

Fig. 15. Schematic diagram and dimensions of the stepped solar still [15].

Fig. 18. A schematic top view of water ow path on the absorber plate of a cascade
solar still [18].

4.5. Solar tracking

Fig. 16. Water distribution on the absorber plate of the cascade solar still
at the initial solar still site [17].

Abdallah et al. [4] improved the single slope solar still performance through increasing the production rate of distilled water.
Design modications were introduced to the conventional solar still,
involving the installation of reecting mirrors on all interior sides,
replacing the at basin by a step-wise basin, and by coupling the
conventional solar still with a sun tracking system. The inclusion of
internal mirrors improved the system thermal performance up to
30%, while step-wise basin enhanced the performance up to 180%
and nally the coupling of the step-wise basin with sun tracking
system gave the highest thermal performance with an average of
380%. A step-wise basin gave higher thermal performance than both
with and without mirrors conventional stills. This was due to two
reasons
(1) A smaller air volume trapped inside the still chamber than in
the traditional still and therefore heating up the trapped air
will be much faster.
(2) The step-wise basin provides higher heat and mass transfer
surface area than the at basin.

4.6. Reciprocating spraying system

Fig. 17. Cross sectional view of a schematic diagram of cascade solar still [18].

percentage mainly depends on the combinations of lm cooling

parameters. On the other hand, the presence of the lm cooling
neutralized the effect of air wind speed on the still distillate
productivity. Moreover, it was found that the proper combinations
of lm cooling parameters have a great inuence on stepped still
productivity and the best combination was: lm thickness from
2.5  10  4 to 5.5  10  4 m, cooling water volumetric ow rate from
4  10  5 to 8.5  10  5 m3/s, and glass cover length from 2 to 2.8 m.

For minimizing water depth in a stepped solar still El-Zahaby et al.

[15] created a thin re-established lm of saline water by feeding the
saline water into the still through a controlled transverse reciprocating spraying system (Fig. 15). The performance results at any operating conditions reveal extraordinary superiority over those obtained
from other recent stills by other investigators. Instead, an optimum
operating condition could be identied. At then, an accumulated
productivity of 6.355 l/m2/day over only 10 working hours at high
efciency of 77.35% was gained. The effect of the inlet sea water
temperature and the power consumed by the two air heaters (at both
100 and 250 rpm and water ow rates of 3.635, 4.0 and 9.333 l/h) on
the performance of the proposed solar system were investigated [16].
It is found that the productivity and performance of the system are
signicantly positively dependent on both inlet sea water temperature and the power consumed. They decrease with the increase of
inlet impure water temperature. At 250 rpm (the speed of the motor

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Fig. 19. Schematic diagram of the mini solar pond integrated with single basin and stepped solar still [22].

Fig. 20. Combination of stepped solar still and single basin solar still with solar pond [23].

which driving the spray water system) the productivity and efciency
increase with the power consumed to a certain limit after which they
begin to decrease gradually while at 100 rpm the productivity and
also the efciency decrease with the power consumed gradually.
4.7. Weir type cascade solar still
Cascade solar stills were fabricated and tested in order to increase
the productivity [17]. For the initial units, the average fresh water
production was around 5.3 l/m2/day for each unit. The absorbent area
of the still, which exposed to the sun light, was 1.16 m2/unit and it was
made of a polymeric composite in order to minimize the heat losses.
The main problem of the units was channelization (dry areas were

created at the corner of the steps) as shown in Fig. 16. To prevent the
dry spot creation, a 5 mm weir constructed on the edge of each step.
The weirs helped to provide an evenly water distribution and increase
the residence time on the absorber surface. The average fresh water
production for the modied cascade solar still is around 6.7 l/m2/day,
which shows 26% increase in compare to the initial units.
Tabrizi et al. [18] constructed two cascade solar stills with and
without latent heat thermal energy storage system (LHTESS) shown in
Figs. 17 and 18. Parafn wax is selected as the phase change material
(PCM) which acts as a LHTESS. Thermal performances of the stills were
compared in typical sunny and partially cloudy days. Based on the
obtained results, the total productivity is nearly the same for both
stills in a sunny day. However, for a partially cloudy day, the still with

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185

Fig. 21. Combination of stepped solar still and wick type solar still with solar pond [23].

Fig. 22. (a) Sectional view of the stepped type solar still. (b) Top view of the Stepped type basia [25].

LHTESS has a signicantly higher productivity. Therefore, the still

without LHTESS is preferred for sunny areas, while the still with
LHTESS is proposed for partially cloudy areas. In addition, the effect of
ow rate on the still productivity was investigated during ve sunny
days. The results show that the maximum productivity obtained in the
lowest possible ow rate.
Mohammad and Farshad Farshchi [19] theoretically investigated
The daily productivity of cascade solar still with and without PCM and
was found to be 6.7 and 5.1 kg/m2/day, for the still with and without
PCM, respectively. The results showed that the productivity of the still
with PCM was theoretically 31% higher than that of without PCM.
Farshad Farshchi et al. [20] investigated the variations of daily
productivity and internal heat and mass transfer coefcients of a
cascade solar still by variations of ow rate. The results showed a

decrease in the internal heat and mass transfer rates as well as

daily productivity with an increase in water ow rate. In this regard,
the daily productivity was found to be 7.4 and 4.3 kg/m2/day, for
minimum and maximum ow rates, respectively.
An unsteady state theoretical exergy analysis for a cascade solar
still was carried out and a correlation between energy and exergy
efciencies was derived. Furthermore, irreversibilities of different
parts of the solar still were analyzed [21]. A computer simulation
package was developed to analyze the energy and exergy effects.
Effects of various parameters such as inlet brine ow rate, water
thickness over the absorber plate, solar radiation intensity, ambient temperature, and inlet brine temperature on the energy
and exergy efciencies were investigated. The simulation results
are in good agreement with the experimental data. Data analysis

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revealed that the maximum energy and exergy efciencies which

are 83.3% and 10.5% respectively are met when inlet brine ow
rate reaches its minimum at 0.065 kg/min.
4.8. Solar pond
Velmurugan et al. [22] studied the augmentation of saline streams
in solar stills integrated with a mini solar pond. Industrial efuent was
used as feed for n type single basin solar still and stepped solar still.
A mini solar pond connected to the stills to enhance the productivity
and tested individually. The schematic diagram of experimental setup
is shown in Fig. 19. The results show that, maximum productivity of
100% was obtained when the n type solar still was integrated with
pebble and sponge. The productivity increased with increase in solar
intensity and water glass temperature difference and decreased with
increase in wind velocity.
Velmurugan et al. [23] experimentally investigated the possibility of enhancing the productivity of the solar stills by connecting a
mini solar pond, stepped solar still and a single basin solar still in
series. Pebbles, bafe plates, ns and sponges are used in the
stepped solar still for productivity augmentation. Their nding
showed that, maximum productivity of 80% occurred, when ns
and sponges were used in both the solar stills as shown in Fig. 20
and the productivity during night was also improved when pebbles
were used in the solar stills. Experiment was also carried out by

Fig. 23. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup [26]. (1) Solar still frame,
(2) glass cover, (3) absorber plate, (4) digital thermometer, (5) water vessel, (6, 12)
control valve, (7) water drain, (8) graduate level, (9) ow meter, (10) water pump
and (11) control timer.

replacing the single basin solar still by a wick type solar still as
shown in Fig. 21 whereas a mini solar pond, stepped solar still and
wick type solar still are connected in series. Pebbles, bafe plates,
ns and sponges were used in the stepped solar still for further
productivity augmentation. The productivity during day and night
are calculated. It is found that maximum productivity of 78%
occurred, when ns and sponges were used in the stepped solar still.
A single basin type solar still with n at basin, stepped solar
still with two different basin depths, and mini solar pond are the
three types of solar devices used for efuent desalination by
Velmurugan and Srithar [24]. Sensible heat storage materials like
pebble, black rubber, sponge, and sand are used in single basin and
stepped solar stills to enhance the productivity. A mini solar pond
is also connected with these stills to preheat the still water.
Maximum productivity occurs when the stepped solar still is
modied with n, pebble, and sponge and integrated with a mini
solar pond. Theoretical analysis is made to validate the experimental results.
4.9. Wick
Alaudeen et al. [25] used a stepped solar still to enhance the
productivity of the solar still (Fig. 22). In this stepped type solar
still, a conventional basin of area 1 m2, was placed at the bottom.
Another absorber plate, stepped type was xed on the top of the
conventional basin. Different water depths of 2 cm, 3 cm, and 4 cm
are maintained in the conventional basin and a constant depth of
2 cm is maintained in the stepped tray. Wick is placed on the
inclined at plate collector. To increase the free water surface area
and capillary effect sponges are used in the conventional basin
and stepped trays. Maximum productivity was obtained for 2 cm
water depth.

Fig. 25. Solar still for heating and humidifying greenhouse [28].

Fig. 24. Cross-sectional view of the stepped solar still [27].

A.E. Kabeel et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 46 (2015) 178188

187

A modied stepped solar still with continuous water circulation

using a storage tank for sea and salt water (Fig. 23) was investigated by El-Agouz [26]. In addition the effect of installing a storage
tank and cotton black absorber for modied stepped solar still on
the distillate productivity was investigated. The results indicated
that, the productivity of the modied stepped still is higher than
that for conventional still approximately by 43% and 48% for sea
and salt water with black absorber respectively, while 53% and 47%
of sea and salt water, respectively with cotton absorber.
4.10. Applications
Rada Zarasvand et al. [27] studied the treatment of sanitary and
industrial wastewater by solar still as shown in Fig. 24. The
experiment was performed by feeding three types of wastewater
into a stepped solar still with an effective area of 0.8 m2 to recover
fresh water from wastewater. Different types of wastewater were
placed inside a solar still for a period of more than 10 days to
recover clean water. The stepped solar still tested in this study
proved to be extremely successful in removing inorganic and
organic contaminants from wastewater. The still was also successful in removing bacteria. It was shown that the distillate produced
was free from solids, 93.8 71.4% lower in terms of chemical
oxygen demand (COD), 99.3 70.5% in terms of total dissolved
solids (TDS), 85.7 712.7% in terms of total suspended solids (TSS)
and 94.8 72.2% in terms of turbidity.
Abdulhaiy [28] presented the transient analysis of a stepped
solar still for heating and humidifying agriculture greenhouses
(GH) shown in Fig. 25. Air from the GH enters the still from the
bottom and ows between the basins and glass cover where it is
heated and humidied, and then re-enters the GH from the still
top. The results showed that (1) the still daily average efciency
was about 63%; (2) total daily yield is about 4.92 l/m2, out of which
0.81 l/m2 is condensed on the glass cover and the rest (4.11 l/m2)
enters the GH as humidity; (3) temperature distribution for still
components increases along the still and follows the sinusoidal
trends as the solar intensity; (4) circulating air relative humidity
increases along the still and always leaves the still at saturation
conditions; and (5) decreasing air ow rate has an insignicant
inuence on the system productivity.
Abdulhaiy [29] studied the transient performance of a stepped
solar still with built-in latent heat thermal energy storage system
(LHTESS). The results showed that the still with LHTESS has an
efciency of 57%, and the total daily yield is about 4.6 l/m2. The
still temperature as well as outlet air temperature and GH heat
load are more uniform compared to the sinusoidal trends for the
still without LHTESS. Also the still was able to provide heat for the
GH for 24 h/day.
4.11. Different designs
Jim et al. [30] used a multiple tray tilted still shown in Fig. 26
consists of a series of shallow horizontal black trays enclosed in an
insulated container with a transparent top glazing cover. Their still
can be used in higher latitudes because the whole unit can be
tilted to allow the suns rays to strike perpendicular to the glazing
surface. The tilt feature, however, is less important at and near the
equator where there is less change in the sun0 s position over the
still. Even though efciencies of up to 50% have been measured,
the practicality of this design remains doubtful due to: the
complicated nature of construction involving many components;
increased cost for multiple trays and mounting requirement.
John [31] designed a solar water purier (Fig. 27) which consists
of a carefully designed black plastic sheet covered by a white glass
window. The plastic is formed into an array of interconnected
square cells which contain impure water. The selected material

Fig. 26. A multiple tray tilted still [30].

Fig. 27. Layout and orientation of the solar water purier [31].

Fig. 28. Proposed humidierdehumidier solar still [32].

ensures that no plastic taste, color or smell is transferred to the pure

water output. There are no lters, no electronics, no moving parts
and cleaning is rarely needed. It is lightweight, cheap, strong,
durable and can be used in any sunny location on Earth. Seawater
input with 35,000 ppm of totally dissolved solids (TDS) is converted
into potable water with a TDS of 12 ppm. Yields up to 9 l/m2
day are obtained at 35 1C ambient or approximately 1000 W/m2 of
insolation.
A numerical study was carried out by Hassan et al. [32] to
investigate the transient thermal performance of a new humidication dehumidication solar still. The still body is divided (by a
central insulated stepped sheet carrying a group of basins) into
two chambers: the upper evaporation chamber and lower condensation chamber. Air is circulated between the upper evaporation chamber (where it is heated and humidied) and the lower
condensation chamber (where it is cooled and dehumidied for
water production), as shown in Fig. 28. The results showed that a
still productivity of about 5.2 l/m2/day. In addition to its simplicity
in design and its low capital and operational cost, the relatively
high productivity adds to the advantages of the present still. In
addition, the results indicated that the decreasing airow rate has
insignicant inuence on system productivity.

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A.E. Kabeel et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 46 (2015) 178188

5. Conclusions
Various research works done on stepped solar still to improve
its productivity are reviewed. The essential points are highlighted
below:
1. In case, tray width equal step width.
 The stepped solar still (the tray width equal the step width)
achieved about 30.4% higher productivity than the conventional solar still.
 The augmentation of the daily productivity of the stepped
still by using wick on the vertical sides from 3% to 5%.
 The stepped solar still incorporated with solar air heater and
glass cover cooling technique productivity was increased
by 112%.
 The productivity of the stepped still increases by integrating
aluminum lling as simple solar energy storage system
beneath the absorber plate (53% higher than the productivity of the conventional still).
 Using external condenser, internal and external reectors
increased the productivity of stepped still by about 165%
over conventional still.
 When combination of both ns and sponges integrated with
stepped solar still the productivity increased by 96% more
than the productivity of ordinary.
 The productivity of the weir type cascade solar still with
PCM was 31% higher than that of without PCM.
 The daily productivity of weir type cascade solar still
increased up to 7.4 l/m2/day, for minimum ow rate.
 The solid sensible heat storage materials improve the
productivity of stepped still by 73% than conventional still.
In case, the tray wider than the step with by about 20%.
2.  The higher performance of stepped still is achieved at water
depth 5 mm and tray width 120 mm (57.3% higher than the
productivity of the conventional still.
 Using internal and external (top and bottom) reectors can
increase the daily productivity of a stepped solar still by
about 125% over conventional still.
 The presence of the glass cover water lm cooling may
increase the stepped still daily productivity by about 8.2%.

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