Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Development of concentrating dish and solar still assembly for sea water
desalination
A. Abubakkar ⇑, P. Selvakumar, T. Rajagopal, A. Tamilvanan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu Engnineering College, Erode 638060, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The availability of fresh water is approximately 1% and the availability of sea water is nearly 99%. The
Received 15 October 2019 freshwater is depleting rapidly as the demand of it increases year by year. In order to solve this, desali-
Received in revised form 29 February 2020 nation of sea water is the only solution. Desalination which is in practice in many parts of the world are
Accepted 3 March 2020
typically based on the need of large amount of high grade energy. To have a sustainable development, the
Available online xxxx
desalination should be carried out by means of available renewable energy. In this paper a small scale
desalination system is designed. In this system, a parabolic dish is used to concentrate the radiation com-
Keywords:
ing from the sun to the focal point and a solar still is placed at the focal point. The pH, hardness, chloride
Desalination
TDS
and TDS were determined before and after the conduct of experiment. The evaporation and condensation
Parabolic dish process inside the still gives water with a lower TDS.
Solar still Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sustainable Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
Focal ence on Advances in Materials Research – 2019.

1. Introduction the concentration ratio allows an increase in the maximum tem-

In order to develop a poverty free world, energy security for all
sectors must be ensured. As the conventional sources of energy are
limited and cannot meet the increasing need of the common peo-
ple, wide dissemination of renewable energy technologies is the
only way out. The solar energy which is coming from the sun in
the form of solar radiation can be an alternative source of energy.
When this radiation falls on an absorbing surface, the surface
absorbs heat and this heat is used as a source of heating water. This
heated water is used for many purposes; sometimes for producing
steam [1] that is used in domestic and industrial applications [2].
Again, this water can be used in water pipelines or tanks to protect
them from freezing in winter. Due to increasing demand for energy
and rising cost of fossil type fuels (i.e., gas or oil) solar energy is
becoming an important source of renewable energy [3].
2. Losses in the dish and still system
The geometrical concentration ratio is defined as the area of the
aperture to the receiver area. For the present configuration the geo-
metrical concentration ratio was found to be 23.9. An increase in
perature reachable by the solar still. The concentrator and the still
can be analysed by applying the energy balance of solar still as
shown in Fig. 1. The dish concentrator has an aperture area Aa
and it receives solar radiation at an intensity Is. The net solar heat
transferred Qs are proportional to Aa. Considering the system is in
steady state,
Q s ¼ Is Aa ð1Þ
Under steady state conditions, the useful heat delivered by a
solar collector system is equal to the energy absorbed by the heat
transfer fluid, which is determined by the radiant solar energy fall-
ing on the still minus the heat losses from the still. The radiation Qr
falling on the solar still from the dish is a function of the optical
efficiency ƞo, which is defined as the ratio of the energy falling
on the still from the bottom to the energy incident on the concen-
trator’s aperture. Fig. 2 shows the losses taking part in each part of
the system after the Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) is received in
the dish. The concentrating dish has mainly optical losses whereas
the solar still accounts for most of the thermal losses.
2.1. Optical losses

⇑ Corresponding author. Optical losses are mainly associated with either manufacturing
E-mail address: abubakkar6@gmail.com (A. Abubakkar). and construction imperfection or material properties. Spillage,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.03.043
2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Advances in Materials Research – 2019.

Please cite this article as: A. Abubakkar, P. Selvakumar, T. Rajagopal et al., Development of concentrating dish and solar still assembly for sea water desali-
nation, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.03.043
2 A. Abubakkar et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Nomenclature

Aa aperture area Qb heat loss from bottom surface of solar still

Ag surface area of solar still top cover Qcg convective heat transfer between top glass and sky
Is intensity of solar radiation Qrg radiative heat transfer between top glass and sky
Qs solar heat radiation falling on dish Va wind velocity
Qr radiation falling on solar still after reflection from dish Tsky sky temperature
Qstill radiation falling on the solar still from top Ta Ambient air temperature
Qu useful heat gain hcg convective heat transfer coefficient from glass to sky
Ql Surface heat transfer loss hrg radiative heat transfer coefficient from glass to sky
Qevp heat transfer for Evaporation in still Mw Total mass of water which undergoes evaporation
Qref reflected solar radiation from still mv mass of vapor loss
F shape factor Nu Nusselt Number
q reflectivity of the dish. T1 Temperature of side 1 of solar still
F12 shape factor from body 1 to 2 Tg Temperature of top surface of solar still
F21 shape factor from body 2 to1 Tb Temperature of bottom surface of solar still
A2 Area of body 2 k thermal conductivity
A1 Area of body 1 Ra Rayleigh Number
mw mass of water in the solar still Pr Prandtl Number
Cw specific heat capacity of water g acceleration due to gravity
Twi initial water temperature Qref Heat lost due the reflection I
Tw water temperature qg average reflectivity of top surface of solar still
Q1 heat loss from surface 1 of solar still
Qg heat loss from top surface of solar still

shading, reflection, transmission and absorption losses are the var-

ious types of losses which will come into account while evaluating
optical efficiency is discussed below [4].
Spillage losses are part of radiation hitting outside the aper-
ture of the receiver which can add about 1–3% to the loss [5].
Since a transparent surface s is kept in place of a receiver, the
radiation hitting any surface of the solar still will be transmitted
to the interior volume with negligible losses. Shading losses are
related to the ratio of the reflective area of the dish which is
shadowed by the receiver. However, this type of loss can be min-
imized if the dish aperture area is considerably larger than the
receiver [6]. Reflection losses are the difference between energy
falling on the concentrator or receiver surface areas and reflected
energy. Depending on the material properties, this loss can repre-
sent about 6 to10% from the incoming or received energy. Trans-
mission losses are due to the energy lost in the air when it moves
from the concentrator to the solar still; which can add about 2–
4% to the loss. An absorption loss comes into effect due to the
absorption of the energy by the concentrator material which
causes thermal stresses.

Fig. 1. Energy balance of solar still with concentrator.

2.2. Thermal losses

The energy transfer taking place in the still can be visualized as

Fig. 2. Energy chain of solar still with concentrator.
a combination of various processes. They are solar radiation
absorption by brine and basin plate, heat transfer between basin
plate and brine, heat transfer between brine and condensation sur-
face and heat loss from condenser to the surroundings [7]. Exper-
imental results showed that black rubber and black gravel used
in a solar still improves the productivity by 20% and 19% respec-
tively [8]. A numerical investigation was performed to study the
natural convective heat loss from cavity receiver, semi-cavity
receiver and modified cavity receiver for a solar dish concentrator.
The study was performed at a receiver surface temperature of
400 °C and inclinations of 0°, 30°, 60° and 90°. Based on the numer-
ical results, it was concluded that the modified cavity receiver
experienced lower convection heat losses than the other receivers
[9].

Please cite this article as: A. Abubakkar, P. Selvakumar, T. Rajagopal et al., Development of concentrating dish and solar still assembly for sea water desali-
nation, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.03.043
 A. Abubakkar et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

3. Mathematical modelling of dish and still Q ev p ¼ M w :hfg ð14Þ

The modelling of heat transfer in solar still and concentrating

dish can be found in many studies. Chaichan and Kazem [10] inves-
Mw = mass of distilled water ,mw + mass of vapor loss, mv
tigated the use of paraffin wax for energy storage and release for
hfg = 2335 kJ/kg
carrying out the evaporation and subsequent condensation process
in a conical distiller. The solar still receives the heat radiation from
Heat lost due the reflection,
the top and the reflected radiation from solar dish from the bot-
tom. The energy entering the still is equal to the sum of useful heat Q ref ¼ I:qg ð15Þ
gain, Surface heat transfer loss , heat transfer in Evaporation and
reflected solar radiation from still.
Q u ¼ Q r þ Q still  Q l ð2Þ 4. Fabrication of dish and solar still

Incident Solar Radiation on solar still is given by
Q still ¼ Is Ag
Radiation reflected from dish and incident on still is given by
Q r ¼ F:q:Is :Aa
where F is the shape factor of dish to still and q is the reflectivity of
the dish. If the dish is considered as body 1 and still as body 2,then
F12 can be calculated using the relation F12A1 = F21A2.
F12 ¼ A2 =A1
Q u ¼ mw C w ðT w  T wi Þ
The solar still is surrounded by ambient air on all sides. So the
convection and radiation heat losses has to be calculated on all
the six sides. The losses Ql can be evaluated using the convection
and radiation heat losses from the still.
Ql ¼ Q1 þ Q2 þ Q3 þ Q4 þ Qg þ Qb
Q g ¼ Q cg þ Q rg
Q cg ¼ hcg Ag ðT g  T sky Þ
where hcg ¼ 5:7 þ 3:8V a
Q rg ¼ eg Ag ½ðT g þ 273Þ4  ðT sky þ 273Þ4 
Heat transfer from the vertical face 1 is
Q 1 ¼ Q c1 þ Q r1
Heat transfer from vertical glass surface 1 through convection
mode is
Q c1 ¼ hc1 AL ðT L  T a Þ
where hc1 is calculated using the Nusselt number relation. Nu= (hc1-
Lc)/k
For vertical plate, Nusselt number is calculated using the rela-
tion given below.
Nu = 0.59 Ra0.25 for Ra between 104 to 109
Nu = 0.1 Ra0.33 for Ra between 109 to 1013
For horizontal plate
Nu = 0.54 Ra0.25 for Ra between 104 to 107
Nu = 0.15 Ra0.33 for Ra between 107 to 1011
The design and fabrication of solar dish can be done by making
ð3Þ a detailed review of the literature works done on solar dish in the
past [11–15]. The temperature measurements were taken outside
the Renewable Energy Laboratory of Kongu Engineering College,
ð4Þ Erode on March 23, 2019. The latitude of the location is 11.2742
and the longitude is 77.6070. The experimental set up as shown
in Fig. 3 consists of a parabaloid dish of diameter 1.46 m and a solar
still of length 33 cm, width 19 cm and heights 15 and 29 cm placed
at the focal point of the dish. Provisions are provided in the dish for
ð5Þ manual rotation of the dish about a single axis. The solar dish was
made to face the sun manually once in morning and once in
ð6Þ afternoon.
The outer skeleton for the dish is fabricated by bending steel rod
of 12 mm diameter in the form of circular rings. There are three cir-
cular rings of diameter 40 cm, 114 cm and 146 cm respectively.
Each ring is connected to other ring by a rod bent in the shape of
a parabola. The height of the parabolic dish is 40 cm. The dish is
ð7Þ divided into 7 equal segments approximating the trapezium form.
Each segment is bent in the form of a parabolic shape. Then it is
inserted inside the concentric rings and fixed. Each segment has
ð8Þ
an area of 0.29 m2. The solar dish concentrator is pasted with alu-
minum foil that has a reflectivity of 0.88 as shown in the Fig. 4. The
ð9Þ
concentrator material selection is one of the most important fac-
tors to be taken into account while designing the dish. The reflec-
tivity of the material of the concentrator affects the percentage of
ð10Þ the solar radiation to the receiver.
Solar stills are easy to fabricate but they have low productivity.
It would be a better option if it is combined with other energy col-
ð11Þ
ð12Þ

gbðT L  T a ÞL3c
Ra ¼ :Pr
m2
For side wall 1, heat transfer through radiative mode,

Q r1 ¼ e1 A1 ½ðT 1 þ 273Þ4  ðT a þ 273Þ4  ð13Þ

where A1 is the area of the left side wall, T1 is the instantaneous
temperature, e1 is the emissivity of left side wall surface.
Heat transferred in the evaporation of the distilled water is
given by Fig. 3. Solar still at the focus of dish.

Please cite this article as: A. Abubakkar, P. Selvakumar, T. Rajagopal et al., Development of concentrating dish and solar still assembly for sea water desali-
nation, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.03.043
4 A. Abubakkar et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 4. Process involved in dish fabrication.

lectors [16]. The solar still is made of glass on all sides except at the
top. At the top an acrylic sheet is used. Acrylic sheet has low ther-
mal conductivity. It reduces the heat loss and enhances the evapo-
ration rate [17]. The model of the solar still design is shown in
Fig. 5. Tg is the top cover temperature and Tb is the basin temper-
ature. T1, T2, T3 and T4 are the temperatures at the four sides. The
Fig. 6 shows the direction in which the solar still is placed. The
radiation falling on the sides of the still were measured using a
solar power meter. Isu and Isb are the intensity of radiation falling
on the top and bottom surfaces of the still respectively. I1, I2, I3
and I4 denote the amount of radiation falling on the four sides of
the still. Additional heat absorbing materials such as gravel can
also be placed at the bottom to trap more radiation [18].

5. Determination of water properties

Adsorption desalination reduces the TDS levels from approxi-

mately 40,000 ppm in feed seawater to less than 10 ppm [19].
Sea water sample is collected and the properties such as pH, chlo- Fig. 6. Schematic of solar still with dish.
ride content, TDS and hardness were determined before the con-
duct of the experiment. The pH value of sea water the is found to
be 7.55 using a pH meter. To determine the amount of chloride
present in sea water, 20 ml of water is taken in conical flask and
1 ml of potassium chromate is added to the sample to get light yel-
low color. The sample is titrated against the silver nitrate solution
until the color changes from yellow to brick red. The procedure is
repeated until the concordant value is reached. The amount of
chlorides present in the sea water is estimated to be 10796 ppm.
The total dissolved solids in sea water are determined by taking
20 ml sea water in china dish. The china dish is initially weighed

Table 1
Water properties before and after desalination.

S. No Tests Conducted Before Desalination After Desalination

1 pH 7.55 7.0
2 Hardness (ppm) 31,200 220
3 Chloride (ppm) 10,796 134.9
4 TDS (ppm) 23,750 50
Fig. 5. Single sloped solar still with plastic bottle.

Please cite this article as: A. Abubakkar, P. Selvakumar, T. Rajagopal et al., Development of concentrating dish and solar still assembly for sea water desali-
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 A. Abubakkar et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

Fig. 7. Variation of beam radiation with time.

Fig. 8. Variation of temperature of cover, water, basin and air with respect to time.

Fig. 9. Variation of temperature on 4 vertical sides of solar still with respect to time.

in the electronic balance. The sample is heated at 100 °C until the

water is completely evaporated. After the evaporation the china
dish is weighed in the electronic balance. The difference between
the weights gives the amount of total dissolved solids in the sam-
ple. The TDS calculated using the method is 23750 ppm. EDTA
(Ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid) forms colorless stable com-
plexes with Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions present in water at pH of 9 to 10.
To maintain the pH, buffer solution (NH4Cl + NH4OH) is used. Eri-
ochrome Black-T (E.B.T) is used as an indicator. The sample of hard
water must be treated with buffer solution and EBT indicator
which forms unstable, wine-red colored complexes with Ca2+ and
Mg2+ present in water. The hardness was found to be 31200 ppm.
6. Results and discussions
The above procedure of testing the water was done after evap-
orating and condensing the water. The results before and after
desalination are compared in Table 1.

Please cite this article as: A. Abubakkar, P. Selvakumar, T. Rajagopal et al., Development of concentrating dish and solar still assembly for sea water desali-
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6 A. Abubakkar et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 10. Variation of wind speed with time.
From the Table 1, it can be inferred that the pH, hardness, chlo-
rides and TDS drops by 7.28%, 99.29%, 98.75% and 99.79% respec-
tively. The Fig. 7 shows the variation of beam radiation with
respect to time. The beam radiation attains its maximum value
around 13.30 h. The Fig. 8 shows the variation of top cover, water,
basin and air temperature with respect to time.
The top cover attained its maximum temperature around
14.20 h. The water temperature also peaked at 74 °C around
14.30 h. The water temperature was always higher than the basin
temperature during the test duration. The Fig. 9 shows the temper-
ature at the 4 side walls of the still. T1 is the temperature of the
side facing the east, T2 is the temperature of the side facing the
south, T3 is the temperature of the side facing the west and T4 is
the temperature of the side facing the north. The condensed water
from the still is taken out through a hole at the side corner. The
amount of water collected using the dish system was 65 ml only.
Further studies have to be taken to increase the yield of fresh
water.
Fig. 11. Variation of Heat transfer with time.
Please cite this article as: A. Abubakkar, P. Selvakumar, T. Rajagopal et al., Development of concentrating dish and solar still assembly for sea water desali-
nation, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.03.043
For the calculation of convection heat transfer coefficient from
the top cover, the wind speed was required. The wind speed as
shown in Fig. 10 fluctuated between 0.231 m/s and 3.9 m/s. The
Fig. 11 compares the useful heat gain and the total heat entering
the solar still. The ratio of useful heat gain by the water to the heat
transfer to the still at most of the times fluctuated between 3 and 7
%.
7. Conclusion
The objective of this work is to study a solar still fixed at the
focal point of a concentrating dish. More specifically the tempera-
ture at various surfaces and the radiation falling on the dish and
solar still were measured and analysed. There was more than
98% drop in the chlorides, hardness and TDS content. The only
drawback of the system is the lower yield of distillate obtained.
Future works has to be focused on increasing the yield by increas-
ing the available area for heat transfer.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
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Please cite this article as: A. Abubakkar, P. Selvakumar, T. Rajagopal et al., Development of concentrating dish and solar still assembly for sea water desali-
nation, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.03.043