Sand dunes effect on the productivity of a single slope solar distiller

Abstract

Access to drinking water in many parts of the globe is shrinking over the years and much of the water resources are polluted or unpurified. North Africa is facing a huge water shortage due to drought and climate change. Water desalination has become very popular and serves as solar distillation which is proving to be an economical, simple and ecological technique, especially in rural and remote areas. Significant efforts have been made by many researchers in various laboratories to increase and improve the productivity of solar greenhouse distillation. In the present work, emphasis has been placed on the study of a single slope solar distiller having as dimension 50 × 50 cm, in the thickness of the impure water is 1 cm. Natural sand dunes from the El Oued South region of Algeria have been tested as a factor of efficiency improvement. A layer of this sand was deposited on the bottom of the distiller covering the whole surface on which the submit water is emerged. The results show that the productivity of distilled water has unfortunately decreased by 1.46 times.