Numerical study of PCM-integrated solar still

efficiency enhancement
..............................................................................................................................................................

Reda Aftiss1,† , Monssif Najim1,2, *,‡ and Mohamed Hissouf2,¶

1
Laboratory of Engineering Sciences & Biosciences (LSIB), Faculty of Science and
Technology, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Mohammedia, BP 146, Morocco; 2 GEMS

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Laboratory, ENSA, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, BP 1136, Morocco
.............................................................................................................................................
Abstract
This research paper provides a detailed comparison of three types of solar stills: the conventional passive solar
still (still-I), the solar still with paraffin wax as a phase change material (PCM) (still-II) and the solar still with
PCM coupled to a storage tank (still-III). The study involves a numerical investigation across six regions of
Morocco during typical days of each season of the year. The paper formulates and solves the thermal energy
balance equations for the different components of the solar stills and storage tank. The numerical simulation
is validated by comparing the results with existing experimental and numerical data. The study shows that
a portion of the energy produced during the day is stored in the PCM, which can be utilized at night. In
addition, the storage tank plays an active role in improving the yield of the passive solar still, indicating the
advantage of the new configuration. Thus, the productivity of still-III during typical days of spring, summer
and autumn exceeds that of still-II and still-I. The maximum value of still-III was obtained in region five
of Morocco (Marrakech) in spring with 8.6 kg m−2 . However, the highest energy efficiency was achieved in
region 1 (Agadir) with 76.05%, while the maximum exergy was reached in region five (Marrakech) in spring
with 7.09%.

Keywords: solar still; exergy efficiency; energy efficiency; phase change material (PCM)
*Corresponding author:
najim.monssif@gmail.com Received 11 April 2023; revised 4 November 2023; accepted 18 December 2023
.................................................................................................................................................................................

1. INTRODUCTION original water through evaporation. Eventually, the water vapour

Recently the world has seen a shortage in freshwater due to vari-
ous causes: increasing population, industrial factors and low rain-
fall in the past years. Hence, to find a cheap alternative solution to
this problem suitable for poor countries, many researchers exploit
solar energy to distillate saline water by using a device that is
known as a solar still. The working principle of a solar still involves
the following process: During the day, the absorber of the solar
still, which is a material with high solar absorbance properties,
absorbs solar radiation, converting it into heat. This energy is
transferred to the water in the solar still, increasing its temperature
and causing evaporation. As the water temperature rises, water
molecules gain enough energy to escape from the liquid phase and
form water vapour. The water vapour rises within the solar still,
leaving behind impurities, contaminants and salts present in the
reaches the cooler surface of the solar still’s cover, typically made
of transparent material like glass or plastic. The surface in ques-
tion facilitates the cooling of water vapour, leading it to condense
into liquid form, a natural process known as condensation. As a
result of this phenomenon, condensed water droplets accumulate
on the inner surface of the cover or a dedicated collection tray.
Utilizing the force of gravity, these water droplets are efficiently
directed into a designated storage container or collection area.
The water collected through this process is typically purer and less
contaminated, owing to the vaporization–condensation process
that naturally filters out impurities.
Swedish engineer Carlo Wilson constructed the first solar still
in Las Salinas Chile 1872 [1]. Later, a lot of studies and research
were dedicated to this technology. Solar still systems are classified
into two major types: passive and active systems. Concerning

†,https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2873-2004
‡,https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4935-2301
¶,https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3496-3054
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2024, 19, 443–454
© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press.
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https://doi.org/10.1093/ijlct/ctae004 443
R. Aftiss et al.
Figure 1. Conventional solar still.
passive solar stills, the basin is heated directly without any external
heating system like electric resistance or preheated water system.
However, this did not prevent from suggesting various develop-
ments and modifications in geometry and other parameters of the
solar system to improve its thermal performance (depth of saline
water, orientation, thermal insulation) [2–13]. Single slope solar
still can be considered as a primary type of solar still illustrated in
Figure 1. Several studies are interested in this type. The absorber
plate is one of the most important components of the passive
solar distiller. Thus, many researchers devoted their studies to
ameliorating the thermal conductivity between saline water and
absorber [14–22]. In this regard, Panchal et al. [23] carried out
an experimental study of three types of solar still: conventional
solar still, solar still with a vertical pin and the last one with
inclined fin. The results reveal that the daily distillate output is
1.940, 2.440and 2.540 l m−2 for conventional solar still, solar
still with vertical fin and the one with inclined fin, respectively.
In addition, to enhance the rate of condensation, double slope
solar still with a single basin was designed for this purpose by
Rahbar et al. [24]. One of the glass sides was exposed to sunlight,
and the other side creates a shadow to reduce the temperature
of the glass cover. It was found that the daily distillate output
increases implicitly [25]. Several attempts have been made in
order to absorb the maximum amount of the solar energy as
possible. For this purpose, tubular solar stills that are basically
similar to conventional ones are introduced and investigated [26].
For example, Rahbar et al. [24] conducted an experimental and
theoretical study of a tubular solar still. Their results indicated that
there is a good agreement between numerical and experimental
studies. Solar stills where the absorber takes the form of stairs
(called stepped solar stills) are also investigated in the literature.
It is found that this structure helps to improve the rates of heat
and mass transfer inside the solar still [27]. Sathyamurthy et al.
[28] studied the performance enhancement of stepped solar still
by mixing the silicon oxide nanoparticle with a black paint on
the absorber at different concentrations. The results indicate that
20% of nanoparticles give acceptable results compared with other
concentrations. Thus, the yield was improved by 34.3%. Wick
solar stills are also proposed in the literature. In such geometries,
444 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2024, 19, 443–454
the feed water flows slowly through a porous absorbent packing
(wick). Among its main advantages, the wick can be tilted to
optimize the orientation of the feed water to the sun. This can
result in reduced reflection and an increased effective surface area,
contributing to improved performance of the solar still. Thus, it
allows a small amount of water to be introduced into the distiller,
resulting in faster heating of the introduced water [29].
Concerning active solar still, the conventional solar still cou-
pled with a parabolic collector (PTC) is one of active solar stills
that uses the energy produced by the PTC. Hassan [30] conducted
experimentally a comparative study of four types of solar stills:
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single slope, single slope with PTC, double slope and double slope
with PTC in the cold and hot climate of Egypt. The results reveal
that the performance of the double slope solar still with and with-
out PTC is greater than the single slope still. In addition, the yield
of the double slope with PTC increased by 75% and 98% in winter
and summer, respectively, compared to the double slope without
PTC. Kumar et al. [31] proposed a new form of active solar
still. They coupled the conventional solar still with a photovoltaic
thermal (PV/T) system, and they inserted a nickel-chromium
wire heater inside the saline water to increase the temperature of
the water. In addition, in order to enhance the rate of conden-
sation, they cooled the glass cover by water. The results exhibit
that there is a remarkable development in the yield of freshwater
(about six times higher than the passive still). Ramachandra and
Lalitha [32] presented experimentally the effect of series coupling
of flat plate collector (FPC) with conventional solar still. Their
results show that the solar still with one FPC, two FPCs connected
in series and three FPCs produced 2.67, 3.76 and 5.04 kg per
day of freshwater, respectively. Hidouri and Gabsi [33] predicted
the productivity of passive and active still by using a developed
correlation based on ‘Lewis number’. To validate their correlation,
they compared the experiment productivity of passive solar and
passive solar still coupled to a heat pump (active mode) with
the theoretical approach. The findings demonstrate a strong cor-
respondence between the theoretical predictions and the experi-
mental results.
Other researchers have exploited waste heat of the diesel
engines and other energetic systems to improve the productivity
of desalination. Park et al. [34] tested a hybrid distillation setup
that incorporated a single-basin still and a vertical wick-type
multi-diffusion solar still, and operated it by harnessing both
waste heat energy from a small electric generator and solar
radiation.
To improve the efficiency of solar stills, numerous researchers
have incorporated phase change materials (PCMs) to enable latent
heat transfer. PCMs can store latent heat, which allows them to be
heated until they undergo a phase change, such as from liquid to
gas, solid to liquid or solid to solid. When the material reaches
its phase change temperature, it absorbs a specific amount of
heat to undergo the transformation, which is referred to as the
latent heat of fusion or vaporization depending on the specific
case. Conversely, when the gas or liquid material is cooled, it
releases its latent heat and returns to the solid or liquid phase.
The amount of heat stored and released depends on the mass

Figure 2. A schematic of the studied solar desalination system.
of the material. In order to benefit from the PCMs behaviour,
several studies are published about the solar still enhancement
using PCM. Generally, PCM is placed under the absorber of
solar still to decrease and exploit the heat flow from the bottom
absorber area to the ambient, as shown in Figure 2. Kabeel and
Abdelgaied [35] concluded experimentally that the use of paraffin
wax as the PCM medium in the solar still has a positive effect
on the productivity compared to a still without PCM. The results
indicated that the yield of the solar still is enhanced from 51% to
86% by adding PCM. Gnanavel et al. [36] compared numerically
the productivity of the solar still with and without PCMs. They
used paraffin C-18 and trimethylolethane as PCMs. The results
obtained reveal that the productivity of the solar still increases
by adding PCM. Vigneswaran et al. [37] studied the effect of
the integration of two types of PCM based on paraffin wax in a
single slope solar still. For that, they compared three solar stills:
the first still without PCM, the second with one PCM and the
last solar still containing two types of PCM. The obtained energy
efficiency is about 38.72%, 42% and 46% for the first, second and
third solar still, respectively. Manoj Kumar et al. [38] suggested a
new technique to enhance the productivity of solar still by mixing
the PCM with nanomaterials to obtain a nano-PCM (0.5% silica
mixed with paraffin). The results reveal that the productivity of
solar still containing n-PCM is 67.04% higher than conventional
solar still, while the productivity of distiller with just PCM is
51.22% higher than passive still. Manoj Kumar et al. [39] used a
nano disbanded PCM (NDPCM) to ameliorate the performance
of passive solar still. The productivity of a solar still with no
modification (conventional), a solar still with crud wax as PCM
and a solar still with NDPCM was calculated experimentally to
be 4220, 6340 and 6970 ml, respectively. Elashmawy et al. [40]
improved the performance of tubular solar still with parabolic
solar concentrator by adding tubes of PCM paraffin. The use of
PCM tubes resulted in a 40.5% increase in productivity and a
28.84% improvement in efficiency compared to the same device
operating without PCM tubes. Kateshia and Lakhera [41] com-
pared the conventional solar still, solar still with palmitic acid as
PCM and solar distiller with PCM and pin fins. The proposed
modifications increase the yield of passive solar still by 24% and
30% for solar still with PCM or solar still with PCM and pin fins,
respectively.
PCM-integrated solar still efficiency enhancement
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The literature review shows that the majority of the research
papers integrate the PCM inside the solar still. However, we can
also exploit the PCM to store energy outside the solar still and
preheat water before introducing it into the basin of solar still. This
is done by using a storage tank equipped with PCM and separated
from the solar still. Therefore, this study aims to use PCM in solar
still and storage tank simultaneously to enhance the productivity
of the solar system.
In this paper, a numerical comparative study of conventional
solar still, solar still with PCM and solar still with PCM and stor-
age tank is presented. The simulation is conducted during typical
summer, winter, autumn and spring days in Moroccan climatic
conditions. The main difference between the present work and
existing studies is the use of PCM in the solar still and in the
storage tank. The novelty consists of using the PCM introduced
in the storage tank to preheat water before being introduced to
the solar still basin in the morning.
2. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
This numerical study concerns three solar stills designs, namely
still-I (conventional), still-II (with PCM) and still-III (with
PCM + storage) as shown in Figure 2.
Therefore, to improve the performance of the solar still, we
added a storage tank that has an innovative structure. This tank
has four main layers, an absorber, PCM, saline water and insu-
lation as shown in Figure 2c. The idea behind this design is to
store the solar energy in the tank during the day by using the
PCM, which will be released back to the water during the night.
Due to the thermal insulation, the water in the tank retains this
energy provided by the PCM until morning (at 7:00 am), the
moment at which it is introduced to the basin. It is worth noting
that the absorber areas of the three solar stills are identical, and
each measures 1 m2 . To verify the efficacy of the new config-
uration, we conducted a comparative analysis against both the
traditional solar still and the solar still integrated with PCM. In
new line, this comparative study helped to establish the efficacy
of the solar desalination system in different regions of Morocco
and allows determining which type of solar still is compatible
with each region. The geometric parameters and the nature of
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2024, 19, 443–454 445
R. Aftiss et al.

Table 1. Physical properties of the components of the solar distiller [42].

◦ ◦
Components C (J k C−1 ) K (W m−1 C−1 ) ρ (kg m−3 ) e (m) Area (m2 )

Glass 800 1.02 2530 0.003 1.15

Brackish 4190 0.67 1022.61 0.02 1
water
Absorber 896 204 2700 0.002 1

Table 2. Physical properties of the PCM [42]. where

 
qig = 1–Rg × αg × I (t)

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Material properties Paraffin wax (2)
Solid/liquid C (Jkg−1 ◦ C−1 ) 2950/2510  
K (W m−1 ◦ C−1 ) 0.24 qc,w−g = hc,w−g Tw –Tg (3)
Solid/liquid ρ (kg m−3 ) 818/760  
T m (◦ C) 56 qr,w−g = hr,w−g Tw –Tg (4)
L (kJ kg−1 ) 226  
e (m) 0.024 qe,w−g = he,w−g Tw –Tg (5)
mpcm (kg) 20  
qc,g−a = hc,g−a Tg –Ta (6)
 
qr,g−a = hr,g−a Tg –Tsky (7)

materials for the three solar stills are the same, as well as for
the storage tank. Table 1 shows the different parameters used in • Energy balance for the brackish water
this study, and Table 2 presents the nature and the properties The water in the basin absorbs a portion of the transmitted solar
of PCMs. energy through the glassqiw , as well as a quantity of heat emitted
by the absorber qc,w–b . Thus, this energy is divided into two parts:
a part is stored in the water and the rest of the energy is transferred
3. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS to the glass by convection, evaporation and radiation; the thermal
balance equation is expressed as follows [43]:
Thermal modelling of solar stills involves the mathematical
representation of energy transfer equations at different points mw Cw dTw
within the system. By using thermal modelling, different solar = qiw + qc,w−b − qr,w−g − qe,w−g − qc,w−g (8)
Aw dt
still designs could be analysed efficiently for various parameters,
with the advantage of reducing the investment of both time
and money. where
  
qiw = 1–αg 1–Rg (1–Rw ) × αw × I (t) (9)
3.1. Conventional solar still
qc,w−b = hc,w−b (Tb –Tw ) (10)
The model presented below is formulated by considering a few
assumptions, including that the system is impermeable to vapour
leakage, thin glass cover (with negligible conduction resistance) • Energy balance for the absorber
and insignificant water temperature gradient. As a result, the
The solar energy absorbed by the black plate is exchanged to
energy balance equations for the components of the system are
increase the temperature of the water, while a small quantity is
as follows:
lost in the form of thermal losses qp,b [43]:
• Energy balance for the glass cover
mb Cb dTb
The glass absorbs a part of the incident energy emitted by the = qib − qc,w−b − qp,b (11)
Ab dt
sun (solar radiation) and exchanges the heat with basin water by
convection qc,w−g and radiation qr,w−g as well as by the water
evaporation amount qe,w−g . Moreover, energy is lost by convec- where
tion qc,g−a and by radiation qr,g−a between the glass and the   
ambient. The corresponding equation is given as follows[43]: qib = 1–αg 1–Rg (1–Rw ) (1–αw ) × αb × I (t) (12)

mg Cg dTg Kins
= qig +qc,w−g +qr,w−g +qe,w−g −qc,g−a −qr,g−a (1) qp,b = (Tb –Ta ) (13)
Ag dt Xins

446 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2024, 19, 443–454

 PCM-integrated solar still efficiency enhancement

3.2. Solar still with PCM • Energy balance for the PCM of the tank
The energy balance of the solar distiller with PCM was established
for glass, brackish water, black surface (absorber) and PCM. It Mer dTpcmr
is important to note that the energy balance is similar to the = qb,pcmr − qc,wr−pcmr (21)
Apcmr dt
conventional distiller especially for glass cover and brackish water.
• Energy balance for the absorber [42] where
The solar energy absorbed by the black plate is transferred to  
increase the temperature of the water qc,w−b , while another part qc,wr−pcmr = hc,wr−pcmr Tpcmr –Twr (22)
is stored in the PCM qb−pcm .

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mb Cb dTb • Energy balance for the brackish water of the tank
= qi,b − qc,w−b − qb,pcm (14)
Ab dt
mwr Cwr dTwr
= qc,wr−pcmr − qwr−a (23)
Awr dt
where
where
Kpcm  
qb−pcm = Tb –Tpcm (15) qwr−a = hwr−a (Twr –Ta ) (24)
Xpcm

• Energy balance for the PCM [42] 3.4. Energy efficiency

The energy efficiency of the three types of solar stills can be
defined as the ratio of the evaporative heat transfer to the intensity
The layer of PCM absorbs a quantity of the heat, derived of solar radiation on the absorber plate [43].
from the absorber. Due to the heat transfer with the external
environment, a part of this energy is lost in the form of heat 
ṁ × Lev
losses qpcm−a . η=  (25)
3600 × Ab × I (t)
Me dTpcm
= qb,pcm − qpcm,a (16) where ṁ is the hourly productivity of freshwater and Lev is the
Apcm dt
latent heat of vaporization of water.
where  
Me = mpcm Cs,pcm If Tpcm < Tf he,w−g × Tw − Tg × 3600
ṁ = (26)
= mpcm Lpcm If Tf ≤ Tpcm ≤ Tf + δ Lev
= mpcm Cl,pcm If Tpcm > Tf + δ

3.5. Exergy efficiency

3.3. Solar still with PCM + storage tank The exergy efficiency of a solar still is mathematically expressed as
To determine the temperature of the water in the storage tank, it the ratio of the exergy output generated from the evaporation of
is necessary to formulate an energy balance on this tank. water to the exergy input of solar irradiation. Hourly exergy effi-
• Energy balance for the absorber of the tank ciency values for a solar still can be computed using the following
formula [44]:
mbr Cbr dTbr Exou
= α b I (t) − qbr−pcmr − qc,br−a − qr,br−a (17) ηex = (27)
Abr dt Exin

where The evaporation exergy output of a solar still can be determined

by taking into account the freshwater productivityṁ, the latent
Kpcmr   heat of vaporization of water Lev , as well as the temperatures of
qbr−pcmr = Tbr –Tpcmr (18)
Xpcmr the saline water and the surrounding environment [44].
qc,br−a = hc,br−a (Tbr –Ta ) (19)  
ṁ × Lev Ta + 273
  Exou = 1− (28)
qr,br−a = hr,br−a Tbr –Tsky (20) 3600 Tw + 273

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R. Aftiss et al.

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Figure 4. Validation of the numerical simulation with different experimental
Figure 3. Flowchart diagram representing the numerical modelling steps. data: (a) variation of absorber temperature, (b) hourly variation of pure water
productivity [43].

The hourly exergy input to the solar still can be presented as

the previous differential equations by using R.K4, a numerical
follows [44]:
code is developed in the FORTRAN language. The numerical
 calculations of the different variables were performed for each
  4 second as a time step from 7 am to 5 am for two consecutive days.
4 Ta + 273 1 Ta + 273
Exin = Ab × I (t) × 1 − + However, we investigate the results of the second day to determine
3 Ts 3 Ts
the effect of the storage tank.
(29)
The following flowchart (Figure 3) presents the different tasks
performed during the code execution and resolution of the differ-
ential equations of energy balance.

4. NUMERICAL SIMULATION
4.1. Solution method
The system of differential equations describing the transient
thermal behaviour is solved using the fourth-order Runge–
Kutta method. This numerical method is well known for its
accuracy and stability in solving ordinary differential equations.
One of the key benefits of using the Runge–Kutta method is its
ease of implementation, making it a suitable choice for solving
problems of this nature. To find the numerical solution of
4.2. Model validation
To confirm the validity of our model, we compared our results
with the experimental [43] and numerical [44] results available in
the literature.
Figure 4a and b displays the hourly variation in two variables:
the temperature of brackish water and the productivity of purified
water. The curves indicate that the solutions of our study have
identical patterns to those given in the reference study [43].
Additionally, the numerical and experimental outcomes show a

448 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2024, 19, 443–454


Figure 5. Validation of the numerical simulation with temperature variation of
PCM [44].
high level of agreement, since the root mean square (RMS) did
not reach 10%.
In this section, the presented model is validated with the
numerical results in the case of stepped solar still with PCM [44],
as can be seen in Figure 5. The RMS for the PCM temperature
is 1.3%. Thus, the validity and the accuracy of the developed
numerical model are now checked and confirmed.
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The numerical calculation was performed in the spring (28 March
2016), summer (7 June 2016), autumn (20 June 2016) and winter
(24 December 2016) for six regions of Morocco prescribed by
the Thermal Regulation of Construction in Morocco (RTCM).
Detailed meteorological data for these regions can be found
in Appendix Tables 1–6. The goal is to determine which type
of solar still is compatible with which region or regions. The
effect of PCM and storage tank on the daily productivity of solar
stills is investigated by comparing the three proposed types of
solar stills.
5.1. Productivity comparing
The productivity of a solar still is indeed influenced by various
factors such as wind velocity, ambient temperature, solar radiation
and the type of material used, among others. Solar radiation is
one of the crucial factors that significantly affect the system’s
efficiency. By heating the absorber, solar radiation raises the water
temperature, thereby enhancing the evaporation process and ulti-
mately leading to improved productivity. However, a challenge
arises in the morning when solar radiation is significantly low,
which hinders the temperature from reaching the required level
for evaporation. To overcome this issue, we propose the imple-
mentation of a storage tank that can preheat the water in the solar
PCM-integrated solar still efficiency enhancement
still during the morning, specifically at 7:00 am, as an initialization
step. By implementing this approach, we can effectively initiate the
evaporation process, even during times of limited solar radiation.
Figure 6a–d presents the daily productivity for three types of
solar stills during the typical day of spring, summer, autumn and
winter in the different regions of Morocco. A general analysis
provides a first insight on the effect of PCM integration on the
productivity of the solar stills. In fact, in region 1 for all seasons,
the solar still type III is more productive followed by solar still type
II. This is due to the positive effect of energy storage guaranteed
by the PCM, especially if it is associated with a storage tank.
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Notice that in summer (Figure 6b) the daily productivity varies
very slightly from one region to another for a given solar still
type, while it varies considerably in winter. Moreover, for the other
regions, PCM integration enhances the productivity of solar stills
for spring, summer and autumn. However, during the winter of
those regions, the conventional solar still is more productive in
regions 3, 5 and 6 compared to solar stills with PCM and storage.
Figure 6a shows also that the maximum value of productivity
is obtained in region 5 for still-III with 8.6 kg m−2 , while the
minimum values for different types of solar still are obtained in
region 4 (represented by Ifran city). This result is mainly due to
the difference in weather conditions of the six regions that are
chosen based on the RTCM. Region 4, where lower daily pro-
ductivity is obtained, is characterized by continental-influenced
warm-summer Mediterranean climate with long winters. In con-
trast, region 5 where the highest daily productivity is obtained is
predominated by a hot semi-arid climate. This demonstrates the
positive effect of the PCM and the storage tank on the amount of
distilled water. These results confirm the effectiveness of this new
design and PCM to enhance the productivity of conventional solar
still. The PCM stores heat energy in the form of latent heat when it
melts and releases it when it solidifies. This helps to maintain the
temperature inside the still and the storage tank, which in turn
increases the rate of evaporation and condensation, leading to a
higher yield of distilled water. In addition, for a given day, PCM
enhances daily productivity by storing thermal energy during the
day and releasing it after the sunset to maintain the temperature
inside the still. Nevertheless, PCM is characterized by a melting
temperature point. This explains the low productivity or even the
disadvantage of using PCM during winter (Figure 6d), as the PCM
does not reach its melting temperature due to very low ambient
temperature and low irradiation.
5.2. Energy efficiency
Figure 7a–d presents the energy efficiency for all types of studied
solar stills in the six regions of Morocco during the four seasons.
One can notice that the histogram shapes are identical to the
ones of daily productivity. Thus, on the typical day of spring, we
observe that the energy efficiency of still-III is greater than still-II
and still-I. The maximum value of the energy efficiency for still-
II and still-III is achieved in region 1, with 70.09% and 76.05%,
respectively. A lower energy efficiency (60.92%) is obtained for
still-I in region 3.
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2024, 19, 443–454 449
R. Aftiss et al.
Figure 6. Daily productivity of the studied solar stills.
During the summer, when the temperature and solar irradia-
tion rise, we can notice that the performances of still-II and still-
III are furthermore enhanced compared to that during spring
in all regions. This is due to the ability of PCM to store ther-
mal energy through latent heat during this period. In addition,
by comparing the energy efficiency of solar stills, we highlight
that the region number 5 acquired the maximum value for still-
II and still-III, with 67.58% and 75.58%, respectively. During
the autumn, still-II and still-III reached their maximum energy
efficiency in region 1, while the maximum energy efficiency of
conventional solar still (still-I) is reached in region 2. Based on
the previous findings, we can conclude that the configuration
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of solar still with PCM and storage tank (still-III) is the most
performant, except for region 4 (climate with long winters) in
summer and spring. This demonstrates that the new configuration
can improve the average efficiency of conventional solar still or
even solar still with basin-integrated PCM. Regarding winter, we
notice that solar still-I is the most efficient device in regions 2 to
6, which means that the used PCM (paraffin-56) is not effective
during winter. This is due to the melting temperature point that
cannot be reached to take advantage of energy storage by the
paraffin-56 during this period of the year. Nevertheless, this does
not abolish the effectiveness of this type of PCM throughout the
year as investigated previously. Region 1 is an exception in winter

Figure 7. Energy efficiency of the studied solar stills.
since it is characterized by a subtropical oceanic, temperate and
arid climate. In fact, in Agadir, as a typical city of this region,
the winter is very mild. This allows the PCM to reach its melting
point, unlike the other regions.
5.3. Exergy efficiency
The exergy of a system refers to the maximum amount of work it
can perform in a cycle with reference to atmospheric temperature.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a device or process, its exergy
efficiency must be calculated. The exergy efficiency measures the
capability of the device to perform its intended function, with a
higher exergy efficiency indicating a greater ability to carry out
the task. Figure 8a–d illustrates the exergy efficiency results for the
different types of solar stills under investigation in the six regions
of Morocco during each of the four seasons. By comparing the
energy and exergy efficiencies through Figures 7 and 8, it is appar-
PCM-integrated solar still efficiency enhancement
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ent that the energy efficiency values are significantly greater than
the exergy efficiency values. This discrepancy can be explained by
the fact that the exergy efficiency takes into account not only the
quantifiable energy transfer but also the qualitative aspect.
Figure 8 provides a clear comparison of the daily exergy effi-
ciency of still-I, still-II and still-III in different regions and sea-
sons. It can be seen that still-III consistently outperforms still-I
and still-II in terms of exergy efficiency, with the highest value of
7.01% recorded at region 5 during the spring season. In compari-
son, still-II exhibits a maximum daily exergy efficiency of 4.82% at
the same region and season, while still-I exhibits a maximum daily
exergy efficiency of 2.88% at region 3 during the spring season. It
is important to note that the low daily exergy efficiency observed
during the winter season for all three types of solar stills is due to
the lower ambient temperature and reduced sunlight during this
time of the year.
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R. Aftiss et al.
Figure 8. Exergy efficiency of the studied solar stills.
In conclusion, the results shown in Figure 8 demonstrate the
advantage of still-III in terms of daily exergy efficiency compared
to still-I and still-II in most regions. The high performance of still-
III can be attributed to its innovative design, which leverages the
stored energy in the storage tank and PCM to elevate the water
temperature and produce water more efficiently.
6. CONCLUSION
This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the perfor-
mance of the solar still system connected to a storage tank and
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highlights the importance of using a PCM and a storage tank
for improving the performance and efficiency of the system. The
findings of this study can be leveraged to improve the design and
optimization of future systems of a similar nature, with the main
findings summarized below.
• Still-III in zone 5 (Marrakech) emphasizes its highest daily
productivity of 8.6kg m−2 during the spring season, while the
lowest productivity is experienced during winter.
• The reduced productivity of the three types of systems during
winter is evident as a result of the low ambient temperature
and insufficient solar radiation.

• In cold regions like region 4 (Ifran), the use of a PCM with
a high melting temperature has a detrimental impact on
productivity.
• The highest energy efficiency for still-III was achieved in
autumn in region 1, with a value of 77.96%. For still-II, the
peak energy efficiency was observed in spring in region 1,
with a value of 70.09%. Meanwhile, the maximum energy
efficiency for still-I was recorded in autumn in region 2, at
62.62%.
• All three types of systems are inefficient during winter in
region 4.
• The new configuration (still-III) consistently registered the
highest levels of productivity across most regions, demon-
strating its significance and effectiveness in improving the
performance of conventional solar stills.
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