Author’s Accepted Manuscript

Experimental yield analysis of groundwater solar

desalination system using absorbent materials

M.H. Sellami, K. Loudiyi, M.L. Ali Ouar, S.E.

Meddour, R. Touahir, S. Guemari

www.elsevier.com/locate/gsd

PII: S2352-801X(17)30124-8
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gsd.2017.08.001
Reference: GSD66
To appear in: Groundwater for Sustainable Development
Received date: 13 July 2016
Revised date: 3 July 2017
Accepted date: 9 August 2017
Cite this article as: M.H. Sellami, K. Loudiyi, M.L. Ali Ouar, S.E. Meddour, R.
Touahir and S. Guemari, Experimental yield analysis of groundwater solar
desalination system using absorbent materials, Groundwater for Sustainable
Development, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gsd.2017.08.001
This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for
publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of
the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and
review of the resulting galley proof before it is published in its final citable form.
Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which
could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
 Experimental yield analysis of groundwater solar
desalination system using absorbent materials

M.H. Sellami a*, K. Loudiyi b, M.L. Ali Ouar a, S.E. Meddour a, R. Touahir a and
S. Guemari a
a
Process Engineering Laboratory, Ouargla University, 30000 Algeria.
Email: sellami2000dz@gmail.com
b
Renewable Energies Laboratory (REL), Al Akhawayne University, Ifrane, Morocco.

Abstract
Nowadays, feeding population by drinkable water has become an enormous task. The most recent record of
potable water shows that more than a billion people throughout the world still lack access getting potable water
[1]. In Southern Algeria, the only source of fresh water is the underground water; however, it is of high salinity.
Solar desalination is one of the best solutions to supply small communities of arid and semi-arid zones by
drinkable water where it is unavailable.
In this paper, attempt has been made to study the effect of the following absorbent on the still productivity under
local climatic conditions:
- 0.5 cm thick layer of bitumen.
- 100g of charcoal i.e. (0.6038 kg charcoal/m2 of absorber area).
- 10 drops of Black Chinese ink /liter of brackish water.
Experiments conducted at Ouargla University show that:
- Absorbent materials increase water absorption to solar irradiance; additionally, they play the role of
heat storage medium when they are added within still’s absorber.
- Moreover, absorbent materials generally increase the daily yield and leads to nocturnal distillation for a
few times.
- Bitumen, Charcoal and black ink improves the output by: 25.35%, 18.42% and 6.87% respectively
relative to the baseline case.

Graphical abstract

Glass Cover

Wood support
Distilled water 

Brackish Water

Brackish water
Absorbent Absorber entrance
material Insolation

Cross-section of test still

Graphical abstract
Absorbent materials increase the water absorption to solar irradiance and some of them can
also play the role of heat storage medium when used within solar still’s absorber plate.
In this experiment, absorbent materials used are: Bitumen, Charcoal and Black Chinese ink.
The figure (Fig.1) shows cross-section of solar still used in our experimental investigation.
After sunset, those absorbents played slightly the role of heat storage medium especially
bitumen and therefore, lead to nocturnal distillation for a few times.
Our results show that the bitumen is better than charcoal and black ink in absorbent and heat
storage medium terms.
1
If the nocturnal distillation is taken in account, output’s improvements are: 25.35%, 18.42%,
and 6.87% for bitumen, charcoal and black ink units respectively relative to the baseline case.

Keywords: Bitumen; Charcoal; Chinese ink; Solar desalination; Solar stills.

* Corresponding author

1. Introduction
Getting potable water in many parts of the world remains a major problem. The availability
of fresh drinking water is one of the major challenges facing humanity and it will be one of
the key factors limiting development in many parts of the world. The most recent record of
drinking water shows that 1.1 billion people worldwide still lack access to reach and get clean
water (Anon 2003).
The continuous diminishing reserves of fossil fuels from day to other, and increasing prices
of petroleum products made inevitable for humans to think of solar energy that is widely
abundant and free. Solar energy denotes a clean, nontoxic energy source that cannot be
exhausted. Harvesting solar energy as heat has many applications, such as saline or brackish
water desalination. Unlike other distillation methods, solar stills use environmentally-friendly
solar energy to remove salts from saline or brackish water (Sellami et al 2013). Solar
desalination is a good way to support the needs of small communities on fresh water
produced with clean and cheap manner.
Basin type solar still is a simple and cheaper device which can be used to obtain pure water
with the use of solar thermal energy and can easily be built with locally available materials
(Sellami et al 2017). These types have the advantage of being simple devices in terms of
construction, operation and maintenance.
Nomads, for example, are constantly on the move following the graze for their flocks. Solar
stills are characterized by their small size. One of their greatest advantages is that they can
easily be transported by the moving nomads. These devices can run for long periods of time
in isolated areas (Sellami et al 2013). Therefore, it is very suitable for the underdeveloped
and remote areas where electricity was not available and even in developed regions where
people have plenty of sunshine and enough space to install such devices (Srivastava et al
2013).
Recent reports on the availability of potable water have listed Algeria among top countries
affected by water shortage (Sellami et al 2017). Algeria has substantial solar energy
throughout its territories especially in the Sahara (southern Algeria) which constitutes the
grouping of arid and semi-arid localities (Sellami et al 2013).
More than 75% of Algerian underground water resources are situated in the south. In this
region, groundwater is available in large quantities: about 60 × 103 billion m3. These waters
are usefully and renewably difficult. From 4 to 5 billion m3 only was exploited annually
although most of this water is brackish (Sellami et al 2017). The salinity levels are variable
and some sources have salinity levels of up to 8 g/l (Sellami et al 2013). Therefore, it is
obvious that the demand for fresh water is increasing from one day to another in these areas.
So, solar energy is gradually emerged as one of renewable energies source to supply isolated
low-density population by drinkable water. According to developed researches and economic

2
calculations, solar distillation is the least expensive method to produce drinking water
compared with other methods. This advantage is due to the reduced cost of the equipment and
the free energy used. (Sellami et al 2013, 2016a and 2016b).
Conventional solar still is widely used in solar desalination processes; nevertheless, its
productivity remains low; the overall efficiency of a conventional basin type solar still is
usually about 30-40% (Delyannis et al 2001). This is due firstly to the heat losses through
several unit parts namely: the loss of latent heat of vapor condensation released outside
through the glass cover (condenser), the loss of heat throughout insulation and some useful
heat carried away by the warm distillate; and secondly to the increase of condenser
temperature due to the internal overheating caused by both of greenhouse effect and latent
heat released inside unit by vapor condensation (Sellami et al 2016a).
Several investigators and researchers carried out studies and experiments to overcome the
problem of enhancing solar stills productivity and effectiveness. (Sellami et al 2016a and
2016b).
To improve solar stills productivity, a new technique of thermal energy storing is adapted; it
is the technique known as Phase Change Material (PCM). Latent heat storage technique
provides much higher storage density with a smaller temperature gap between storing and
releasing heat. The (PCMs) are used because of their advantages namely: low cost, high
storage density and isothermal operation. For the solar distillation process, they consist a
bridge to cross the difference between the energy source and the distillation unit. (Gugulothu
et al 2015). In this way, the thermal energy is stored up in the form of latent heat which can
be strengthen energy intake and/or bridge the solar energy deficit when solar irradiance is low
or after sunset.
This method allows the distiller to operate for a while at night and hence, the daily yield
increases up remarkably. So, different kinds of materials and chemicals were used namely:
Lauric Acid, Myristic Acid, Zinc Nitrate Hexa hydrate...etc.
In this axis, (Al-Hamadani et al 2012) carried out a comparative experimental study between
two acid types: Lauric and Myristic acid applied as (PCM); they found that the overall
efficiency of the distiller increases to be respectively 39.6% and 34.4%.
In another experiment, (Rai et al 2013) used another chemical compound; it is the Zinc
Nitrate Hexa hydrate which gives a better productivity estimated at 33.5% compared to the
baseline case.
(Wei et al 2005) conducted numerical studies on a PCM heat storage system for rapid heat
supply. The PCM was encapsulated in four different capsules (tube, sphere, cylinder and
plate). Their studies reveal that the sphere capsules showed the best heat release performance
compared with the three other capsules, where as the tubular capsule with low void fraction
was not ideal for rapid heat release of the thermal energy.
The use of heat storage medium technique keeps the absorber temperature high enough to
produce distillate when solar irradiance is low or overnight.
In this axis, some other researchers and investigators have studied the use of some materials
as heat storage medium namely: Bitumen, sponge, Paraffin wax, rubber, jute cloth, gravel,
alluvial sand, Portland cement...etc.
These materials have a low thermal conductivity, or otherwise, they have a high thermal
capacity to store heat (Sellami et al 2017).

3
Bitumen is considered as a high storage medium capacity and low thermal conductivity
which can store energy. Thus, we can get heat in the night time for desalination or even if
solar irradiance becomes low. Bitumen was used by (Kantesh 2012) as absorbent material
and heat storage medium; he found that the distiller overall efficiency records 27%.
The performance of a solar still with different size of sponge cubes placed in the basin was
studied experimentally and investigated by (Bassam et al 2003).Their results show that the
increase of daily productivity was from 18% to 27% i.e. by 9% compared to the baseline case
(conventional still).
Glass, rubber and gravel are some of materials that have been used by (Abdel-Rehim et al
2005) as thermal storage materials .The overall efficiency of the modified solar desalination
system using packed layer thermal energy storage was increased by 5% at May, 6% at June,
and 7.5% at July, while it was increased by 2.5% at May, 5% at June, and 5.5% at July for the
modified one using rotating shaft and PV-system. (Nafey et al 2001) used almost the same
materials, they found that these materials improved remarkably the still’s output; since their
results show that black rubber (10 mm thick) enhances the yield by 20% at the conditions of
60 l/m2 brine volume and 15° of glass cover tilt angle. Also, using black gravel (20-30 mm
size) increases the output by 19% at the conditions of 20 l/m2 brine volume and 15° of glass
cover tilt angle.
Latent heat thermal energy storage sub-system is an attractive technique used by other
investigators; within this axis, (Ramasamy and Sivaraman 2013) carried out an experimental
study using paraffin wax as heat storage reservoir within absorber plate; he found that the
paraffin wax improves the still yield especially during off sunshine hours; nevertheless, the
corrosion appears at certain system points such as pipes and metals; additionally the
productivity of conventional still remains slightly higher during sunny days.
(Chaichan et al 2015) investigated a concentrating distillation system using Paraffin wax as
heat storage material at Baghdad Iraqi spring time. The system consisted of conical still,
concentrating dish and heat exchanger. They studied four different cases; their best results
reveal that the system concentrating efficiency, heating efficiency and productivity increased
by: 64.07%, 112.87 % and 307.54% respectively.
(Sellami et al 2013) conducted an experimental study by using layers of blackened alluvial
sand as heat storage medium; they investigated the effect of the sand mass and sand particles
size on the yield and the photocatalytic behavior of semiconductors contained in alluvial
sand; the results reveal that for a fixed mass of sand, the yield improvement is inversely
proportional to the sand particles size; the better result is obtained for (0.08 mm) of sand
particles. The output of distilled water for a fixed particles diameter increases with the
increase of the sand mass to an optimum value of: 2.268 kilograms per square meter of
absorber area. The distillate produced is high quality because of the phtocatalysts presence.
The Photocatalytic effect and behavior of semiconductors is another technique used to
improve the efficiency of solar stills and to ameliorate the distillate quality.
Semiconductors composed by metal oxides namely: PbO2, CuO, ZnO, TiO, MnO2 …etc
additional to certain other metal sulphides namely: ZnS, CuS, CdS…Have photo-catalytic
property (Sindal et al 2011, 2013a and 2013b). These photocatalysts generally adsorb organic
and some inorganic compounds. This adsorption process leads to energy release. Each
semiconductor has an energy gap between its valence and its conduction bands. The process
of photocatalysis is the absorption of a photon whose energy is above the difference between

4
the valence and the conduction bands of semiconductor. After this, a pair (electron-hole) is
formed on the semiconductor surface after the emission of an electron in the conduction band
and the formation of a hole in the valence band. In the presence of water and oxygen, this pair
of electron-hole leads to free radicals formation which initiate red-ox reactions in molecules
of adsorbed compound at the semiconductor surface and therefore, degrades them, resulting
in carbon dioxide and water formation with energy release. Because of their high red-ox
potentials, the photo-generated electrons and holes degrade almost all types of organic,
inorganic, and microbial contaminants. (Gaya and Abdullah 2008, Adams et al 2006 and
Lam et al 2012).
The Photocatalytic process is a great environmental application with high potential in the
near future if used in the processes to water purification, treatment and distillation. (Sellami
et al 2016a) carried out experimental studies regarding the heat storage medium and
photocatalytic effects on the output of solar stills. To do this, they coated the still absorber by
mixture layers of alluvial sand and Portland cement; their result reveals that coating absorber
with 1.811 (kg of mixture layer/m2 of absorber area) improves the yield by 39.70% compared
to the baseline case. In another study (Sellami et al 2016b) used the pure Portland cement in
its two forms: powder and layer; they found that the powder form is more effective; after
adding 0.906 (kg of powder cement/m2 of absorber area), the yield increased by 51.14%
compared to the conventional device.
(Patel et al 2006) studied the influence of adding some of different metal oxides which play
the role of photocatalysts on the overall efficiency of the still. They observed that the quality
and the percentage of distilled water produced increased outstandingly.
Adding absorbent materials within basin water is another technique investigated by other
researchers. Black absorbent materials such as charcoal and black dies enhance water
absorption of solar irradiance and reduce both of distillation start-up time and system thermal
inertia. (Naim et al 2002) used a bed of charcoal particles within the wick-type solar still;
their study reveals that the distillate productivity increases by about 15%.
Within this way, other investigators used black dies which darkens the water and enhance its
solar irradiance absorption playing therefore, the same role of charcoal particles (Rajvanshi
1981).
In order to improve the transport, the heat transfer mechanism and the evaporative
characteristics of the basin water, suspended metallic or nonmetallic fine particles called "
nanofluids" were used (Gnanadason et al 2011, Srivastava et al 2013). This addition of nano-
particles within the basin area increases the basin water’s temperature by increasing the heat
transfer rate and thereby, increases the evaporation rate which consequently, resulting in rise
of condensed vapor rate.

2. Theoretical analysis
2.1 Distilled water amount
The hourly amount: (kg/m2/h) of distilled water is directly dependant with evaporation
heat: (W/m2) and the latent heat of water vaporization: (J/kg). The hourly amount of
distillate is given by the following relation (Elsafty and Al-Daini 2008):
(1)

5
The latent heat of water is given as polynomial function of the saline water’s temperature
within the basin (°C) by the following relation (Abu Arabie et al 2002 and Edessouky
and Ettouney 2002):

[ ] (2)

2.2 Internal efficiency of solar still

Internal efficiency of solar still: depends on the mean solar irradiance: ̅ (W/m2) between
two subsequent hours and is given by the following relation (Elsafty and Al-Daini 2008 and
Shatat and Mahkamov 2010):

̅
(3)

The table.1 below summarizes the thermo-physical and configuration parameters of solar still
parts.
Table.1

Our aim within this framework outline is to study the effect and the behavior of three
absorbent materials (bitumen, charcoal and black ink) on solar still productivity under
climatic conditions of Ouargla city and hence to present a comparison between their
effectiveness.
Ouargla city (south of Algeria, latitude 31.95 north, longitude 5.40 east and altitude141 m) is
characterized by Saharan dry climate; the rain is rare (few millimeters in winter). This
climate is characterized by a hot summer with ambient temperatures exceeding sometimes
45°C in the shade and solar irradiance exceeding 1200 W/m2; and a cold winter (especially in
the night) with ambient temperatures of day sometimes rise until 35°C, the solar irradiance
reaches sometimes 950 W/m2. The other seasons (autumn and spring) are only the transitional
periods between the summer and the winter and are characterized by irregular winds. The
ambient temperature and the solar irradiance are shown in figure.2 for a chosen day of early
spring.
During our experiments:
- We’ll record the day-time output of solar still (absorbent material effect);
- We’ll record the nocturnal yield (storage medium effect) and
- Finally we’ll determine by physical analysis the quality and estimate by calculation,
the cost price of distilled water produced.

3. Materials and method

3.1. Construction of solar stills
For experimentation and comparison purpose, four identical solar units’ prototypes were built
with a view of enhancing the still’s output; one was used as a witness unit, while the three
others were used as test units. All units operate under the same local weather conditions of
Ouargla city (which were cited previously) and planted in the same location of Ouargla
University. Fig.1 shows a schematic cross-section of the single-slope basin solar still used in
this study. The solar still was made of wood 0.040 m thick. Its basin is a plate
(0.460x0.360x0.030 m) made of galvanized iron 0.003 m thick. All units’ absorbers were
blackened by matte painting to ensure maximum absorption of solar irradiance. The basin

6
plate of each still was further lagged with a 0.040 m thick insulation of polystyrene. The
removable glass cover (0.003 m thick) of each assembly was placed such that it makes an
angle of 30° tilt with the horizontal. To avoid any vapors leakage, the glass cover was sealed
firmly by silicone. Local underground brackish water (3 g/l) was supplied to each unit from
the reservoir by means of an adjustable float to maintain the brackish water level in the
absorber less or equal to 0.005m. A distillate runs along the lower edge of the glass to collect
and carry it out of the enclosure into graduated cylinders through plastic tubing.

Fig.1

3.2. Measurement tools

Several tools are used in this experimental study to measure physical parameters of brackish
and distilled water and meteorological parameters.
1- Solar-meter to measure the solar irradiance (W/m2).
2- Hot wire anemometer for measuring the wind velocity (m/s).
3- Thermocouples (K type) for measuring temperatures of different still parts (°C).
The previous equipments were integrated with (N-I) acquisition box; with the same module
we can add thermocouples to mixed signal test systems for offering high-performance data
acquisition on PC with National Instrument Signal Express Software (NI-SES).
4- Hygrometer for measuring the relative humidity (%), and the ambient temperature in (°C).
5- Spectrophotometer for measuring the water TDS (total dissolved solids) (mg/l).
6- pH-meter for measuring the water pH.
7- Conductivity-meter to measure the water electric conductivity (µs/cm) and salinity (%).
8- Analytical balance for weighing charcoal masses (g).
9- Graduates tubes for measuring the distilled water volume (ml).
10- Sieves to adjust charcoal particles’ diameter (mm).

3.3. Experimental procedure

The four stills were installed and tested in the Process Engineering Laboratory (PEL) at
Ouargla University, south of Algeria in early spring 2015.
All runs started at 9:00h and ended at 17:00h local time. The values of the different raw data
were recorded at regular intervals throughout the duration of tests.
During tests, the measurement of the followed parameters was made regularly:
- The temperature of inner surface of the glass cover;
- The temperature of the trapped air and steam inside the still;
- Insulation temperature;
- The temperature of brackish water in the basin;
- Ambient temperature;
- Input brackish water’s temperature;
- Solar irradiance and
- Distilled water’s volume.
Firstly, each of the three absorbents is tested separately to find the optimal quantity or the
optimal thickness which gives the best yield. After the preliminary tests, the optimal values
for the three absorbents: Bitumen, charcoal and black ink are respectively involving around:
- 0.5 cm thickness of Bitumen coating the entire surface of the absorber.
7
 - 100 g i.e. (0.6038kg/m2 of absorber area) of charcoal; this is enough to cover the
entire water’s surface. The diameter of particles is the lowest possible (0.080mm) to
obtain the largest exchange area. Beyond 100g i.e. (0.6038kg/m2), the charcoal
constitutes a thick layer which prevents the solar rays to reach water.
- 10 (drops/liter of brackish water) of black ink; this is enough to darken the water.
The objective of this work is to ameliorate the output of the conventional solar still by adding
separately three black absorbents within its absorber and therefore, compare between their
effectiveness. This was achieved by:
- Coating the entire absorber area (0.1656 m2) with a 0.5cm thick layer of bitumen; the
layer is pressed against the base by means of a spout of fire.
- Adding 100g of fine charcoal particles (D = 0.080mm) to the conventional still unit.
- Adding 10 (drops of black ink /liter of brackish water) to the conventional still. In our
experiment, the still contained constantly 0.828 liters of brackish water, so we added 9
drops of black ink. The ink used is the black Chinese ink.
To ascertain reproducibility of results in all tests, each experiment was repeated three times in
three subsequent days and then the mean values were presented.

4. Results and discussion

Fig. 2 displays different measured temperatures-time history curves for the still with a layer
of bitumen chosen as example. The ambient temperature and the solar irradiance are also
presented in the same figure versus local time. Almost all the shown temperature curves
follow the same trend as the solar irradiance. Both of temperatures and solar irradiance reach
their maximum values between 13:00h and 14:30h local time.
The maximum value recorded for the solar irradiance in early spring is 1008 (W/m2) at
13:00h local time. This value indicates that we are in the beginning of the summer.
The lowest temperature recorded for the same day is the ambient temperature, it varied
between the minimum of 23 °C at 09:00h and the maximum of 29.4 °C at 13:30h local time.
The highest temperature recorded for the still is that of the mixed air and vapor closed inside
the distiller (Tai) because of the green house effect and the overheating caused by the release
of the latent heat by condensed vapors on the inner face of the glass-cover. The maximum
value recorded for this temperature is 78.48 °C.
The temperature of input brackish water (Tiw), increased slightly from 20.8 °C at 09:00h to
36.84 °C at 16:00h because of the green-house effect inside the plastic tank and the
progressive rise of the ambient temperature.
Polystyrene temperature i.e. (insulation temperature) (Tis) is near to ambient temperature
(Tam). The minimum value recorded for polystyrene temperature was 23.2 °C at 09:00h and
the maximum value was 32.85 °C at 14:30h. The average gap recorded between insulation
and ambient temperatures is 3.2°C despite that the gap between the absorber temperature and
the environment exceeds 39 °C and sometimes reaches 50°C. So, the mean loss of heat
towards outside through the basin is of 7.3%. From this, we can say that the heat losses
through insulation are not enormous; thus, polystyrene used as insulation is acceptable.
For the unit with bitumen layer, the temperature of the base (Tba) is slightly greater than that
of saline water therein (Tsw). The average gap between them is 4.43°C; this was due to the
insulation role played by the 0.5 cm thick layer of bitumen which separates the water from
the metal basin. Generally, this phenomenon was not observed within the three other stills

8
because of the absence of bitumen layer; therefore, the expression: (Tsw ≈ Tba) can be written
only for the other three units because the gap recorded within these units is negligible.
The maximum gap recorded (Tba- Tsw) for the three units doesn’t exceed 2°C; in contrary, this
difference reached 14°C in the case of the bitumen unit.

Fig. 2

Figure.3. displays the gap between the temperature of brackish water in the base (Tsw) and
that of glass-cover (Tgc) for the four stills; i.e. the gap between evaporator and condenser
temperatures. Generally, for all experiments, and for the distillation takes place, the glass-
cover temperature (Tgc) should be lower than that of the water in the base (evaporator) (Tsw).
The gap between them reflects directly the quantity of the condensed vapor; or otherwise, the
quantity of distilled water. This temperature difference is the key of the distiller’s
effectiveness. For the unit with bitumen layer, the average gap monitored is 4.55 °C; the
maximum value of 11.14°C was recorded at 13:00h. For the witness unit, the average value
of the gap is 3.42°C and the maximum value is 8.87°C at 12:00h local time.
At the beginning of experiments, the gap for the two stills was negative i.e. (Tgc > Tsw); this
was explained by the fact that at 09:00h after sunrise, the glass-cover start to receive solar
rays before the basin water which is still cold since it is still keeping his previous temperature
(night temperature) because of thermal inertia; so, the glass-cover temperature become
slightly higher and therefore, the gap was shown negative.

Fig.3

Fig.4. shows the hourly productivity for the four stills versus local time. The curves trend
indicates that the hourly yield is directly proportional to the solar irradiance. The maximum
values were recorded between 12:00h and 15:30h local time.
The mean value of hourly production calculated at the end of experiment for each unit was:
0.5805, 0.5585, 0.5207 and 0.4906 kg/m2/h for the units with bitumen, charcoal, black ink
and the witness respectively. The unit coated by bitumen was shown as the best; this was
explained by the fact that the bitumen plays two roles; firstly, an insulation material by
preventing heat losses via absorber plate towards the ambient and secondly a heat storage
medium material by feeding brackish water by energy; moreover, it constitutes an absorbent
material. In addition, it is clear that the charcoal gives also a good result despite it doesn’t
form a good heat storage medium but it constitutes a good floating absorbent material.
Generally, the hourly production doesn’t give a clear idea about the yield improvement of
solar still; but the hourly cumulus (daily yield) which will be shown later in figure.5 will
remove any ambiguity.

Fig.4

Fig.5. displays the hourly cumulus of distillate for the four test units. At the end of
experiments, the cumulus for the four units is: 4.644, 4.468, 4.166 and 3.925 kg/m2/d
produced by the units with bitumen, charcoal, black ink and the witness respectively. The
yield’s improvements calculated at 17:00h local time are: 18.32%, 13.83% and 6.14% and

9
average internal units’ efficiencies are: 68.81%, 66.2%, 61.73% and 58.15% for bitumen,
charcoal and black ink units respectively. After sunset, all units continue to distill during
more than one hour. For all units except the witness, nocturnal distillation is due to the
thermal inertia and to the role of heat storage medium played by absorbent materials. In the
witness case, it is due only to the thermal inertia. Between 17:00h and the end of nocturnal
distillation, nocturnal yields recorded by units were: 0.404, 0.301, 0.138 and 0.102 kg/m2
produced by bitumen, charcoal, black ink and the witness units respectively; therefore, their
total daily cumulus (day time and overnight) become respectively: 5.048, 4.769, 4.304 and
4.027 kg/m2/d. So, the new output’s improvement becomes: 25.35%, 18.42%, and 6.87% for
bitumen, charcoal and black ink units respectively. From this, we can deduce that bitumen is
the best because it constitutes an absorbent material and in addition it plays the major role of
heat storage medium while the role of heat storage medium is weak in the case of charcoal
and negligible in the case of black ink. This was explained by the condensed structure of
bitumen which leads to energy conservation. In addition, the improvement recorded by
bitumen in our case is close to that found by other investigators.

Fig.5

5. Waters analysis results

In aim to determine their quality, underground brackish and distilled waters were analyzed
for some of their important physical parameters namely: pH, TDS (total dissolved solids),
salinity and electrical conductivity by using the suitable tools. The table.2 below summarizes
the mean values of these analyzes. Physical analysis shows that the qualities of distilled water
produced using absorbents and that by conventional still (witness) are closer. Adding
charcoal leads to producing slightly a best distillate because the charcoal is sometimes used in
adsorption processes as an adsorbent material for organic, inorganic compounds and
pollutants; this is because of its porous structure and other physicochemical characteristics.

Table.2
6. Economic calculation of distilled water production cost
6.1. Improved unit cost
The cost of each distiller part is estimated in Algerian Dinars currency (DZD) and converted
to United States Dollars (US $) using the conversion (1 US $ = 110 DZD).
The cost of ameliorated unit includes the cost of conventional still added to the cost of
absorbent material used.
The cost of conventional still includes the cost of its parts namely: (wood support,
polystyrene insulation, metallic basin, glass-cover, support …etc) and the cost of piping,
tank, black paint and silicone adhesive.
The cost price is expressed in (US $/m2) of solar still considering only the best unit (the unit
which gives the high output i.e. the unit coated by bitumen layer); and in (US $/kg) for
distilled water.
Bitumen unit is the best; the cost of (1m2 x 0.005m) layer of bitumen is estimated at 20 (US $
/m2); then, the latter must be added to the construction cost of conventional still in (US $/m2).
- Estimated cost of conventional still’s construction (without bitumen) is: 62 US $/m2.
- Estimated cost of best unit’s construction becomes: 82 US $/m2.

10
Therefore, the relative percent increase of the estimated cost between the constructed and
conventional unit is: 32.25 %.
The lifetime of a basin solar still is generally estimated at about 20 years; so estimated
construction price becomes (82/20) US $/y/m2, i.e. 4.1 US $/y/m2.
Such solar still does not require too much maintenance and care (one day per 6 months);
additionally, the cost price of maintenance is estimated at 5% per year of its construction
cost. Therefore, the total cost of the best unit becomes: 4.305 US $/year/m2.

6.2. Distilled water cost price

The cost price of distilled water is given in (US $/kg) by the relation:
Cost price of distilled water = [Total unit cost (US $/m2/year) /yield (kg/m2/day)/363
(day/year)] + the cost price of brackish water (US $/kg).
Otherwise, after numerical calculation, the cost price of distilled water becomes:
(4.305/5.048/363) + 4.63 10-3 = 6.97 10-3 US $/kg.
Nevertheless, the cost price of distillate using other energies is closer than 0.13 (US $/kg).
Thus, producing distilled water by solar distillation using 0.5cm thick of bitumen layer as
absorbent material is more than 18 times cheaper.

7. Conclusion
On the basis of above results and discussions and economic calculations, the following
conclusion can be inferred:
Distilling brackish water using solar energy is one of the best solutions to supply by fresh
water the small communities of arid and semi arid zones in southern Algeria such as Ouargla
city where solar energy and underground water are abundant.
The study conducted in process engineering laboratory at OUARGLA University aims to
improve the yield of conventional solar still by experimental investigation and presents a
comparison attempt. This was achieved by adding separately some black absorbent materials
within absorber plate of conventional still and compare between their output’s improvements.
Absorbents added are:
- 0.5cm thick layer of bitumen coating the entire absorber area;
- 100g of charcoal i.e. 0.6038 (kg charcoal/m2 of absorber area) and
- 10 drops of Chinese ink per liter of brackish water.
According to our results, absorbent materials increase the water absorption of solar rays.
Moreover, some of them can play the role of heat storage medium and consequently lead to
nocturnal distillation for a few times which result in increasing of the solar still productivity.
After taking in account the nocturnal distillation output, experimental results show that the
bitumen, charcoal and black ink improved the productivity of the solar still by: 25.35%,
18.42% and 6.87% relative to the baseline case and recording an internal distiller efficiency
of: 68.81%, 66.2% and 61.73% respectively.
Finally, after physical analysis, the quality of distilled water produced by the units fitted with
black absorbent and that produced by conventional still are almost closer except that the
water produced by charcoal unit is slightly better because the coal is sometimes used in
adsorption processes as an adsorbent material for organic, inorganic compounds and
pollutants; this is because of its porous structure and its other physicochemical
characteristics.

11
Nomenclature
G : Solar irradiance (W/m2).
Lv : Latent heat of water vaporization (J/kg).
mw : Hourly amount of distilled water (kg/h/m2).
Qev : Water evaporation heat (W/m2).
Tam : Ambient temperature (°C).
Tai : Temperature of trapped air and vapor inside the still (°C).
Tba : Basin temperature (°C).
Tgc : Glass-cover temperature (°C).
Tis : Insulation temperature (°C).
Tiw : Input water temperature (°C).
Tsw : Basin water temperature (°C).
ΔT : [Tsw- Tgc ] (°C).
Symbols
ab : Absorber plate
b : Base
ev : Evaporation
i : Insulation
in : Internal
gc : Glass-cover
sw : Saline or brackish water
w : Water

Greek letters
α : Absorptivity.
ε : Emissivity.
: Efficiency of solar still.
τ : Transmissivity.
8. References
[1] Anon U.N.W.W.A.P, Water for people: Water for life, UN World Water Development
Report, UNESCO, Paris, France. (2003) p. 576.
[2] Sellami, M.H., Bouguettaia, H., Bechki, D., Zeroual, M., Kachi, S., Boughali, S.,
Bouchekima, B. and Mahcene, H., 2013. Effect of absorber coating on the
performance of a solar still in the region of Ouargla (Algeria). Desalination and
Water Treatment. 21, 1-8.
[3] Sellami, M.H., Belkis, T., Aliouar, M.L., Meddour, S.D., Bouguettaia, H. and Loudiyi,
K., 2017. Improvement of solar still performance by covering absorber with blackened
layers of sponge. Groundwater for Sustainable Development. 5, 111-117.
[4] Srivastava, P.K., Agrawal, S.K. and Agrawal, A., 2013. Effect of absorber material on
the performance of basin type solar still with multiple floating porous absorbers.
International Journal of Chemical Technology Research CODEN (USA) 5, 1046-1053.
[5] Sellami, M.H., Guemari, S., Touahir, R., Loudiyi, K., 2016a. Solar distillation using a
blackened mixture of Portland cement and alluvial sand as a heat storage medium.
Desalination. 394, 155-161.
[6] Sellami, M.H., Touahir, R., Guemari, S., Loudiyi, K., 2016b. Use of Portland

12
 cement as heat storage medium in solar desalination. Desalination. 398, 180-
188.
[7] Delyannis, E., Belessiotis,V., 2001. Solar energy and desalination, in: D.Y. Goswami
(Ed.), An Annual Review of Research and Development. Advances in Solar Energy 14
American Solar Energy Society, Inc, Boulder, Colorado. 287-330.
[8] Gugulothu, R., Sarada, S.N., Vijaya K.R., Gantha, K.D., 2015. A Review on Solar
Water Distillation Using Sensible and Latent Heat. Procedia Earth and Planetary
Science. 11, 354-360.
[9] Al-Hamadani, A.A.F., Shukla, S. K. and Dwivedi, A., 2012. Experimental Performance
Analysis of a Solar Distillation System with PCM Storage. International Journal of
Research in Engineering and Technology.1, 307-311.
[10] Rai, A.K., Sachan, V. and Kumar, M., 2013. Experimental Investigation of a Double
Slope Solar Still With a Latent Heat Storage Medium. International Journal of
Mechanical Engineering and Technology. 4, 22-29.
[11] Wei, J., Kawaguchi, Y., Hirano, S., Takeuchi, H., 2005. Study on a PCM heat storage
system for rapid heat supply. Journal of Applied Thermal Energy. 25, 2903-2920.
[12] Kantesh, D.C., 2012. Design of solar still using Phase changing material as a storage
medium. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research. 3, 1-6.
[13] Bassam, A.K., Himzeh, R., 2003. Experimental study of a solar still with sponge cubes
in basin, Energy Conversion and Management. 44, 1411-1418.
[14] Abdel-Rehim, Z.S. and Lasheen, A., 2005. Improving the performance of solar
desalination systems. Renew Energy. 30, 1955-1971.
[15] Nafey, A.S., Abdelkader, M., Abdelmotalip, A. and Mabrouk, A.A., 2001. Solar still
productivity enhancement. Energy Conversion and Management. 42, 1401-1408.
[16] Ramasamy, S. and Sivaraman, B., 2013. Heat Transfer Enhancement of Solar Still
Using Phase Change Materials (PCMs). International Journal of Engineering and
Advanced Technology. 2, 597-600.
[17] Chaichan, M.T. and Kazem, H.A., 2015. Using Aluminium Powder with PCM
(Paraffin Wax) to Enhance Single Slope Solar Water Distiller Productivity in Baghdad
- Iraq Winter Weathers. International Journal of Renewable Energy Research. 5, 251-
257.
[18] Sindal, M., Rastogi, S. and Sharma, A., 2011. Use of cadmium sulphide as
photocatalyst in solar desalination. Asian Journal of Biochem Pharm Res. 1, 33-38.
[19] Sindal, M., Singh, A. and Sharma, A., 2013a. Use of cupric oxide as photocatalysts in
solar desalination, Int. J. Green Herbal Chem. 2, 203-207.
[20] Sindal, M., Singh, A. and Sharma, A., 2013b. Solar desalination using zinc oxide as
photocatalyst. J Chem Biol Phys Sci. 3, 958-962.
[21] Gaya, U.I., Abdullah, A.H. 2008. Heterogeneous photocatalytic degradation of
organic contaminants over titanium dioxide: a review of fundamentals progress and
problems Elsevier. J Photochemical Photobiology. 9, 1-12.
[22] Adams, L.K., Lyon, D.Y. and Alvarez, P.J.J., 2006. Comparative eco-toxicity of nano-
scale TiO2, SiO2 and ZnO water suspensions. J Water Resour. 40, 3527-3532.
[22] Lam, S.M., Sin, J.C., Abdullah, A.Z. and Mohamed, A.R., 2012. Degradation of
wastewaters containing organic dyes photo-catalyzed by zinc oxide: a review.
Desalination and Water Treatment. 41, 131-169.

13
[23] Patel, S.G., Bhatnagar, S.J., Ameta, S.C., 2006. Use of photocalysts in solar
desalination. Desalination. 189, 287-291.
[24] Naim, M.M. and Mervat, A.A., 2002. Non-conventional solar stills with charcoal
particles as absorber medium. Desalination. 153, 55-64.
[25] Rajvanshi, A.K., 1981. Effects of various dyes on solar distillation. Solar Energy. 27,
51-65.
[26] Gnanadason, M. K., Kumar, P. S., Rajakumar, S. and Syed Yousuf, M. H., 2011. Effect
of nanofluids in a vacuum single basin solar still. International Journal of Advanced
Engineering Research and Studies. 1, 171-177.
[27] Elsafty, A.F. and Al-Daini, A.J., 2008. Mathematical model development for a new
solar desalination system, Energy Conversion and management 49, 3331-3337.
[28] Abu-Arabie, M., Zurigat, Y., Al-Hinai, H., Al-Hiddabi, S., 2002. Modeling and
Performance Analysis of a Solar Unit with Double-Glass Cover Cooling.
Desalination. 143, 173-182.
[29] El-Dessouky, H.T., Ettouney, H.M., 2002. Fundamentals of Salt Water Desalination.
Elsevier Science BV. P 690.
[30] Shatat, M.I.M and Mahkamov, K., 2010. Determination of rational design parameters
of a multi-stage water desalination still using transient mathematical modeling.
Renewable Energy Journal. 35, 52-61.

Glass Cover

Wood support
Distilled water 

Brackish Water

Brackish water
Absorbent Absorber entrance
material Insolation

Fig.1 Cross-section of test still

14
 80 1200
Tba

Solar irradiance : G (W/m2 )

70
1000
Tsw

Temperature ( C)
60
800 Tgc
50
Tai
40 600
30 Tiw
400
20 Tam
200 Tis
10
0 0 G

Local time (h)

Fig.2. Typical measured solar irradiance and temperatures-time

history curves for Bitumen still

12
Bitumen
10
Charcoal
8
Black ink
ΔT ( C)

6
Witness
4
2
0
-2

Local time
Fig.3. Temperatures difference between evaporator and
condenser for all stills vs. local time

15
 1
Bitumen

Hourly production (kg/h/m2 )

0,9
0,8 Charcoal
0,7
0,6 Black ink

0,5
Witness
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0

Local time (h)

Fig.4. Hourly production of distillate for all stills vs. local time

5 Bitumen
4,5
4 Charcoal
Hourly Cumulus (kg/h/m2 )

3,5
Blaack ink
3
2,5 Witness
2
1,5
1
0,5
0

Local time (h)

Fig.5. Hourly cumulus of distilled water for all stills vs. local time

Table.1. Thermo-physical and configuration parameters of solar still parts

Glass-cover Saline Water Basin Insulation Black absorbent

16
 Table.2 Water analysis results
Water quality pH TDS (mg/l) Salinity (%) Conductivity (µs/cm)
Brackish water 8.48 2706 02.02 4040
Distilled water 6.47 3.01 00.02 02.11
(Bitumen)
Distilled water 6.63 4.13 00.02 02.22
(Black ink)
Distilled water 6.84 2.11 00.01 02.00
(Charcoal)
Distilled water 6.93 1.99 00.00 02.03
(witness)

Highlights
- A hot topic resolving the fresh water shortage’s problem encountered in arid zones and
remote areas.
- Simple device using cheap and available materials with clean and renewable energy.
- Producing distillate with low cost compared with other techniques.
- Satisfactory results.

17