Heat and Mass Transfer

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-019-02741-8

ORIGINAL

Improving the performance of stepped solar still using a graphite

and PCM as hybrid store materials with internal reflectors coupled
with evacuated tube solar collector
A. E. Kabeel 1 & Mohamed M. Khairat Dawood 2 & Tamer Nabil 2 & Bader Essa Alonafal 2

Received: 12 April 2019 / Accepted: 30 August 2019

# Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Abstract
The present experimental study aims to improve the productivity of a stepped solar still. The stepped solar still using PCM
as latent storage materials with stillinternal reflectors integrated with an evacuated tube collector (first case) and a stepped
solar still using a graphite and PCM as hybrid storage materials with still internal reflectors integrated with an evacuated
tube collector (second case) was designed, implemented and operated at Tanta University under the climatic conditions of
Egypt to obtain the better configuration. This study illustrated to effects the graphite, PCM, still internal reflectors, and
evacuated tube solar collector on the stepped solar still performance. The results show that the daily distillate productivity
was varied between 11.24–11.29 and 13.6–13.62 L/m2 day for the first case and the second case, respectively. The daily
efficiency was varied between 42.55–42.62% and 51.7–51.82% for the first case and the second case, respectively. These
results indicated that the second case is more effecient than the first case. The percentage improved in the daily produc-
tivity for the second case as compared to thefirst case varied between 20.64 and 21.05%. Also, the percentage improved in
the daily efficiency for thesecond case compared to the first case varied between 21.48 and 21.64%. Due to increase the hot
brackish water flow rate from 15 to 35 ml/h, the daily productivity increases from10.54 to 12.08 l/m2and from 12.88 to
14.42 l/m2for the first case and the second case, respectively.

1 Introduction desalination plants. Solar desalination is one of the de-

Pure water is a key element of all organisms living on
the planet’s. Pure water is also an remarkable element in
development of modern industries. The water distributed
on the surface of the globe is estimated at 2.53% pure
water and 96.54% salt water [1]. The total pure water
available for direct use is estimated at 0.0036 of a total
pure water on the planet’s [2]. Due to the rapid devel-
opment of industry and the rapid population growth, the
pure water available for direct use on the Earth’s sur-
face is insufficient. This requires the establishment of
* A. E. Kabeel
kabeel6@hotmail.com; kabeel6@f-eng.tanta.edu.eg
1
Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering,
Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt
2
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Suez
Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt
salination technologies. Solar stills are one of the ways
of solar desalination, as they are characterized by ease
and low costs of construction and maintenance com-
pared to other desalination techniques, but the disadvan-
tage of solar stills is the low productivity of pure water.
The previous studies have focused on three main axes to
improve the productivity of solar stills. The first direction is to
modify the construction of the solar stills. Second direction is
to use an external heat source to raise the basin water temper-
ature of solar stills. Third direction focuses on the use of stor-
age materials.
Use of an external energy source represents one of tech-
nique used to raise the temperature of the basin water as well
as increase the evaporation rate inside the solar still. The solar
water collector coupled with solar still was studied to improve
an evaporation inside the still [3–5]. Tanaka and Nakatake [6]
used the flat reflectors to increase the basin temperature of
still. Solar water collectors with storage tank represent one
option used to rise the basin water temperature [7, 8].
Jahangiri et al. [9] studied the behavior of still coupled with

evacuated tube collector. All previous studied presented that,
the productivity of solar still improved with increasing the
amount of thermal energy supplied to basin.
Thermal storage materials are classified into two types (la-
tent storage materials and sensible storage materials). The par-
affin wax represents latent storage materials which use to im-
prove the solar still performance. Kabeel et al. [10] empirically
conducted the influence of corrugated absorber surface with
paraffin wax on a pyramid still performance. Sarhaddi et al.
[11] investigated a behavior of weir type cascade still with
paraffin wax. Al-harahsheh et al. [12] empirically investigated
a behavior of still with PCM connected to solar collector. They
conducted that a distillate produces after sunset about 40%
from daily productivity. Kabeel and Abdelgaied [13] experi-
mentally studied the still productivity with paraffin wax under
Egyptian conditions. Kabeel and Abdelgaied [14] improved
the still productivity by using paraffin wax with cylindrical
concentrator. The percentage improvement was recorded
140.4% for using paraffin wax with cylindrical concentrator.
Kabeel et al. [15] empirically conducted the impact of air
injection on still behavior with PCM. Tabrizi [16] theoretically
studied the still production with PCM. Ansari et al. [17] in-
vestigated the influence of latent storage materials on the be-
havior of single basin still.
A sensible thermal storage medium, for example, a black
gravel and sand, glass ball, and graphite are utilized to im-
prove the still behavior. Omara and Kabeel [18] empirically
conducted aninfluenceof yellow and black sand on a produc-
tivity of basin still. Abdel –Rehim et al. [19] investigated the
behavior of still with glass balls. The outcomes conducted that
about 5% enhance of still performance for use glass balls.
Sakthivel and Shanmugasundaram [20] conducted the behav-
ior of still with black gravel. Kabeel et al. [21] empirically
conducted the behavior of single basin still with graphite.
They conducted that use graphite enhance the still production
by 74.89–80.05%.Kabeel et al. [22] investigated the impact of
a graphite and PCM on a single basin still production.
Due to the fact that the stepped solar still is more effi-
cient than conventional solar still, it has attracted the at-
tention of researchers to develop it and raise its efficiency.
One of the ways to raise the performance of the stepped
solar still is to change its configuration so as to give more
space area exposed to the solar intensity which may in the
future become runway in the form of stepped half sphere
or in the form of a stepped pyramid or staggered arrange-
ment. Also, the ladders of the stepped solar still can be
designed to be in motion or vibration to increase the solar
still productivity. Another way to raise the efficiency and
the productivity of the stepped solar still is to integrate it
with one of resources to raise the temperature of the water
inside the stepped solar still such as; solar collectors,
evacuated tubes, PCM, nano-materials, magnetic field
and still vibrations.
Heat Mass Transfer
The current study aims to improve the productivity of a
stepped solar still. To investigate this idea, a stepped solar still
using PCM as latent storage materials with still internal reflec-
tors integrated with an evacuated tube collector (first case) and
a stepped solar still using a graphite and PCM as hybrid stor-
age materials with still internal reflectors integrated with an
evacuated tube collector (second case) was designed, imple-
mented and operated at Tanta University under the climatic
conditions of Egypt to obtain the better configuration. This
study illustrated to effects the graphite, PCM, still internal
reflectors, and evacuated tube solar collector on a stepped
solar still production.
2 Exprimental setup
To improve a daily productivity of stepped solar still, in a first
case a stepped solar still using PCM as latent storage mate-
rials with still internal reflectors integrated with an evacuated
tube collector was designed, implemented and operated at
Tanta University under the climatic conditions of Egypt. In
a second case, a graphite plates were installed on top of the
absorbent surface of the stepped solar still using PCM as
latent storage materials with still internal reflectors coupled
with an evacuated tube collector, in order to conduct a com-
prehensive assessment of the performance of the stepped
solar still using a graphite and PCM as hybrid storage mate-
rials with still internal reflectors connected to evacuated tube
collector. To obtain the effect of graphite and PCM as a hy-
brid storage material on the productivity of stepped solar still
with still internal reflectors coupled with evacuated tube so-
lar water collector. The graphite represent the sensible stor-
age material which characterized by high thermal conductiv-
ity coefficient as compared to other sensible storage mate-
rials, also, the paraffin wax (PCM) represent latent storage
material, this two storage materials use to store the thermal
energy in the time of midday and recovery it within the time
before and after the sunset. Graphite and still internal reflec-
tors are used to raise the rate of solar intensity falling on the
absorbent surface. Moreover, the evacuated tube solar col-
lector was used an external thermal energy source to raise
abasin water temperature objectively increase a distillate
productively. Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of a
proposed design of a stepped solar still. Also, Fig. 2 shows
the photographic view of stepped solar still with storage ma-
terials and still internal reflectors integrated with an evacu-
ated tube collector.
In the first case, a stepped solar still using PCM as latent
storage materials with still internal reflectors consists of nine
steps, each step made from a galvanized steel with dimensions
120 mm × 1000 mm. The edge of each step made from a
galvanized steel 150 mm height and 1000 mm length to uni-
formly distributed the brackish water over an absorber surface
Heat Mass Transfer

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of the proposed design of stepped solar stills

Fig. 2 aphotographic view of

stepped solar still with storage
materials and internal reflectors
integrated with an evacuated tube
collector

of all steps. The galvanized steel was covered with a black
paint to raise the solar rays intensity absorbed by the absorber
face. The inclined paraffin wax tank located down the graphite
which contains 36 kg of the paraffin wax. Two reflectors with
a dimension of 1240 mm × 200 mm are installed on the inner
surface on the east and west direction. The bottom and all the
side walls were isolated by fiberglass 50 mm thick and 30 mm
wooden box to reduce the thermal loss from inside to outside
surrounding. The cover of stepped still made from a commer-
cial glass 3 mm thick. The condensed water vapor was col-
lected in collection trough and flow to distillate tank. The hot
brackish water from an evacuated tube collector was supplied
to stepped solar still on the upper step and the brackish water
from the bottom step was pumped to the evacuated tube solar
collector, the brackish water continuous flows in a closed cy-
cle between evacuated solar collector and stepped still.
The solar evacuated tube collector utilized to increase
a basin water temperature which represents an external
heat source. This evacuated tube solar collector contains
a cylindrical isolated reservoir with capacity 150 l and
15 evacuated tubes (56 mm diameter and1800 mm
length).
In the second case, the graphite plates with dimen-
sions of 120 mm × 1000 mm × 25 mm thick were
installed on top of the absorbent surface for each step
of the stepped solar still using PCM as latent storage
materials with still internal reflectors connected to evac-
uated tube collector. The total mass of graphite used in
all steps is 47.8 kg. In this case, the effects of a graph-
ite and PCM as hybrid storage materials on a produc-
tivity of a stepped solar still with still internal reflectors
connected to evacuated tube collector was investigated.
The results of the two cases are compared together to
evaluate the effects of a graphite and PCM on the
stepped solar productivity. The properties of two storage
materials used in this study are listed in Table 1.
Figure 3 shows the process flow diagram of the studied
two cases which depicting how solar energy (input) and
Table 1 Properties of a store materials [22]
Properties Values
PCM melting temperature, (°C) 56
PCM liquid/solid density, (kg/m3) 760/818
PCM heat capacity (Liquid /Solid), (kJ/kg °C) 2.51/2.95
Graphite thermal conductivity, (W/m K) 195
Linear thermal expansion of graphite cofficient (μm/m K), 3.2
(20–200 °C)
Graphite density, (kg/m3) 1770
PCM latent energy, (kJ/kg) 226
PCM thermal conductivity, (W/m °C) 0.24
Graphite porosity (%) 13
Heat Mass Transfer
outputs and useful products (water) are generated.
Figure 4 shows Sankey diagram of (Energy Inputs and
Losses) for these studied two cases.
3 Experimental procedure and error analysis
In the first case of the experimental work, a stepped solar still
using PCM as latent storage materials with still internal reflec-
tors integrated with an evacuated tube collector were designed,
implemented and operated within the July 2018 from 8:00 am
till 10:00 pm. To evaluate the effects of PCM, still internal
reflectors, and evacuated tube solar collector on the perfor-
mance of stepped solar still. In the second case, during the same
period of July 2018, the graphite plates were installed on top of
the absorbent surface of the stepped solar still using PCM as
latent storage materials with still internal reflectors coupled with
an evacuated tube solar collector. The second case aims to
improve the performance of stepped solar still by using a graph-
ite and PCM as hybrid storage materials with still internal re-
flectors connected to evacuated tube collector. To evaluate the
system performance, the temperatures of brackish water inlet
and exit the stepped solar still, basin water temperature, glass
cover temperature, absorber plate (graphite) temperature, PCM
temperature, distillate water temperature, weather temperature,
distillate water productivity, solar intensity, brackish water flow
rate, and wind speed are measured hourly beginning 8:00 am
till 10:00 pm. The measuring devices include the K-type ther-
mocouples, solarimeter, calibrated flask, water flow meter, and
vane anemometer are utilized to record the temperatures, solar
intensity, distillate water productivity, brackish water flow rate,
and wind speed respectively. The description and the accuracy
of all measuring devices are presented in Table 2. The error in
measured data is evaluated based on the procedure described by
Kline et al. [23]. Also, the errors in a daily efficiency and pro-
duction are ±1.06% and ±1.17% respectively.
Daily efficiency of stepped solar still using a graphite and
PCM as hybrid storage materials with still internal reflectors
integrated with an evacuated tube collector, ηd was evaluated
by the multiplied sum of distillate productivity Σ m by the
heat of vaporization hfg at average temperature of basin Tbw,
this conclusionsis divided by the meanvalue of solar intensity
I(t) on the entire absorption area A:
∑m*hfg
ηd ¼ ð1Þ
A*IðtÞ
Whereas; hfg followed by Kabeel and Abdelgaied [14]:
 
hfg ¼ 103 2501:9−2:40706 Tbw þ 1:192217  10−3 Tbw 2 −1:5863  10−5 Tbw 3
ð2Þ
Heat Mass Transfer

Fig. 3 Process flow daigram of Solar radiation

the studied two cases of the
stepped solar still

Stepped solar still with internal reflectors Brackish Evacuated tube solar collector
Case (1): with PCM water Reservoir 150L and 15
Case (2): with PCM and graphite evacuated tubes

Hot brackish water

Output distilled water

4 Results and discussion
For all working days of the first and the second cases of the
stepped solar still, the speed of wind varied between 0.5 and
7.3 m/s and a brackish water flow rate between the evacuated
tube solar collector and the stepped solar still varied between
15 and 35 ml/s.
In the first case of a stepped solar still using PCM as a latent
storage material with still internal reflectors coupled with an
evacuated tube solar collector, the hourly variation in the tem-
peratures (basin water, ambient air, and outer surface of glass
cover) and the intensity of solar radiation during the period
from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm are presented in Fig. 5. As shown in
the figure we note that the intensity of solar rays gradually
increases to reach the maximum value at midday and then less
gradually until it reaches the lowest value and is zero at sunset.
Also during the working day from 8:00 am till 10:00 pm, the
temperature of both basin water and outer surface of glass
cover changes between 39–89 °C and 28–51 °C, respectively.
The maximum value of basin water was recorded 89 °C at
2:00 pm.
In the second case of a stepped solar still using a graphite
and PCM as hybrid storage materials with still internal reflec-
tors connected to evacuated tube solar collector, the hourly
variation in the temperatures (basin water, ambient air, and
outer surface of glass cover) and the intensity of solar rays
during the period from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm are presented in
Fig. 6. As shown in the figure we note that the intensity of
solar rays gradually increases to reach the maximum value at
midday and then less gradually until it reaches the lowest
value and is zero at sunset. Also during the working day from
8:00 am till 10:00 pm, the temperature of both basin water and
outer surface of glass cover changes between 42–93 °C and
30–52 °C, respectively. The maximum value of basin water
was recorded 93 °C at 2:00 pm.
Figure 7 shows a comparison between the basin tempera-
ture and glass cover temperature for the first and the second
cases of the stepped solar still. As shown in this figure, the
maximum basin water temperature 89 °C in 2:00 pm for
stepped solar still using PCM as a latent storage materials with
still internal reflectors coupled with evacuated tube solar water
collector but for a stepped solar still using a graphite and PCM
as a hybrid storage materials with still internal reflectors
coupled with evacuated tube water collector the maximum
basin water temperature was recorded 93 °C in 2:00 pm.
Also, within the period from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm the temper-
ature of basin water for a stepped still using PCM with still
internal reflectors coupled with evacuated tube collector is
more than a stepped still using a graphite and PCM integrated
with evacuated tube collector by about 1–5 °C due to the effect
of thermal heat storage in a hybrid storage materials for a
second case. But in the period after 1:00 pm the basin temper-
ature for a stepped still using a graphite and PCM as a hybrid
storage materials integrated with evacuated tube collector is

Fig. 4 Sankey daigram of the Losses due to water – glass

studied two cases of the stepped radiation and convection
solar still

Solar Energy absorbed by water + basin + PCM (first case) Distilled

energy Energy absorbed by water +basin +PCM + graphite (second case) water output
input

Basin losses
Reflected radiation by glass
 Heat Mass Transfer

Table 2 Description of all measuring instruments

Device Accuracy Range Error

Thermocouples ± 0.10 °C 0–100 °C 0.28

Calibrated flask ±5 ml 0–2000 ml 2%
Solarimeter ±1 W/m2 0–5000 W/m2 2.4%
Flowmeter ± 5 mL/min 0.5–4 L/min 1.8%
Vane anemometer ±0.1 m/s 0.4–30 m/s 1.5%

more than a stepped still using PCM intgrated with evacuated

tube collector by about 2–7 °C, this due to the high amount of
thermal heat store in hybrid storage materials as compared to
the PCM only.
Figure 8 shows a comparison between the hourly produc-
tivity for a stepped still using PCM as latent storage materials
with still internal reflectors coupled with evacuated tube solar
water collector (first case) and a stepped solar still using a
graphite and PCM as hybrid storage materials with still inter-
nal reflectors coupled with evacuated tube solar water collec-
tor (second case). As shown in this figure, in the period
starting from 8:00 am till 1:00 pm the hourly productivity
for the first case of stepped still is higher than that of the
second case of a stepped solar still. This because that the
amount of the thermal energy stored in the hybrid storage
materials for second case greater than that of PCM alone for
the first case. But in the period from 1:00 pm till 10:00 pm the
hourly distillate water productivity for the second case of
stepped still is higher than that of the first case of stepped solar
still. This because that the amount of thermal energy recovery
for storage materials in the second case is greater than that of
the first case. This mainly because that within the period
8:00 am till 1:00 pm the amount of thermal energy storage
in hybrid storage material for the second case higher than the
amount of thermal energy storage in PCM alone in the first
Fig. 6 Hourly variations of temperature and intensity of solar radiation
within the period 8:00 am till 10:00 pm for the second case
case. Moreover, the maximum hourly distillate water was re-
corded 1.26 L/m2 h and 1.55 L/m2 h for the first and the
second cases of a stepped solar still at 2:00 pm, respectively.
Figure 9 shows the daily productivity for a stepped still
using PCM as latent storage materials with still internal reflec-
tors coupled with evacuated tube solar water collector (first
case) and a stepped solar still using a graphite and PCM as
hybrid storage materials with still internal reflectors coupled
with evacuated tube solar water collector (second case). As
shown in this figure, the daily distillate water productivity was
recorded 11.29 and 13.63 l/m2 day for the first case and the
second case of stepped solar still, respectively. The results
show that, using a graphite and PCM as a hybrid storage
materials is more effective as compared to the PCM as a latent
storage materials. The percentage improvement of the daily

Fig. 5 Hourly variations of temperature and intensity of solar radiation Fig. 7 Comparison between the basin water temperature and glass cover
within the period 8:00 am till 10:00 pm for the first case temperature for first and second case of a stepped solar still
Heat Mass Transfer
Fig. 8 Comparsion between the hourly productivity for the first and
second case of stepped solar still
productivity for using hybrid storage materials (second case)
as compared to PCM under basin (first case) was recorded
20.73%.
The effect of hot brackish water flow rate on the hourly and
the daily distillate productivity for two stepped still using stor-
age materials are shown in Figs. 10 and 11. As shown in Fig. 10
the hourly distillate productivity for stepped solar still with
PCM and still internal reflectors connected to evacuated tube
solar water collector (first case), the maximum hourly distillate
productivity reached to 1.18 l/m2 h, 1.26 l/m2 h, and 1.39 l/m2 h
at hot brackish water flow rates 15 ml/s, 25 ml/s, and 35 ml/s,
respectively. But for the stepped still with a graphite, PCM and
still internal reflectors coupled with evacuated tube solar water
Fig. 9 Daily distillate productivity for the first case and second case of a
stepped solar still
Fig. 10 Effect of hot brackish water flow rate on hourly productivity for
two stepped solar still
collector (second case), the maximum hourly distillate produc-
tivity reached to 1.47 l/m2 h, 1.55 l/m2 h, and 1.68 l/m2 h at hot
brackish water flow rates 15 ml/s, 25 ml/s, and 35 ml/s, respec-
tively. Also, as present in Fig. 11a daily distillate productivity
for the first case of stepped solar still reached to 10.54 l/m2,
11.29 l/m2, and 12.08 l/m2 at hot brackish water flow rates
15 ml/s, 25 ml/s, and 35 ml/s, respectively. But for the second
case of stepped solar still, the daily productivity reached to
12.88 l/m2, 13.63 l/m2, and 14.42 l/m2 at hot brackish water
flow rates 15 ml/s, 25 ml/s, and 35 ml/s, respectively. The
results show that the productivity increases with increasing
the hot brackish water discharge.
Fig. 11 Effect of hot brackish water flow rate on daily productivity for
two stepped solar still
 Heat Mass Transfer

The daily productivity and the daily efficiency for thefirst
case and the second case of a stepped solar still at different hot
brackish water flow rate are listed in Table 3. As shown in this
table, for the first case of stepped solar still, for increase the hot
brackish water flow rate from 15 to 35 ml/h, the daily produc-
tivity varied between 10.54 and 12.15 L/m2 and the daily
efficiency varied between 39.9 and 46%. But for the second
case of stepped solar still for increase the hot brackish water
flow rate from 15 to 35 ml/h, the daily productivity varied
between 12.88 and 14.45 L/m2 and the daily efficiency varied
between 49 and 54.9%.This results indicated that the second
case is more effecient than the first case, the improved in a
daily productivity for the second case compared to the first
case varied between 18.93 and 22.2%. Also, the percentage
improved in the daily efficiency for the second case compared
to the first case varied between 19.35 and 22.8%.
the stepped solar still using a graphite and PCM as hybrid
storage materials with still internal reflectors connected to
evacuated solar collector. The first case and the second case
was tested during the same period of July 2018, to illustrate
the effects of a graphite, PCM, still internal reflectors, and
evacuated tube solar collector on abehavoir of stepped still.
The outcomes show that the daily productivity was varied
between 11.24–11.29 L/m2 day and 13.6–13.62 L/m2 day
for the first case and the second case, respectively. The daily
efficiency was varied between 42.55–42.62% and 51.7–
51.82% for the first case and thesecond case, respectively.
For increase the hot brackish water flow rate from 15 to
35 ml/h, the daily productivity increases from 10.54 to
12.08 l/m2and 12.88 to 14.42 l/m2for the first case and the
second case, respectively. The percentage improved in the
daily distillate productivity for the second case compared to
the first case varied between 18.93 and 22.2%.

5 Conclusions

In the present experimental work, a stepped solar still using References

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