Enhancing performance of solar stills - A review

Solar stills can be an easy and environmentally viable solution in today's world, where a lack of fresh water sources is a major challenge. Solar stills, on the other hand, aren't economically viable due to their poor efficiency. It has been the subject of several studies to improve its efficiency and output. The goal of this review article is to understand and summarize recent studies conducted to improve the efficiency and commercial viability of solar stills. It focuses on using experimental and numerical techniques to manipulate different parameters that affect freshwater production in stills in order to arrive at a suitable condition where the efficiency and productivity of the solar still are maximized. Effects of modifications such as addition of baffles, fans, fins, phase change material (PCM), etc., and its consequent influence on freshwater production rate are presented in this article. Fins, for example, improved the efficiency of solar still by about 40% and productivity by about 16%. PCMs too increased the productivity rate by around 50%-90% depending on the type of PCM used. Baffles were found to be more effective when they were mounted closer to the front wall of the solar still. The findings and conclusions of all the studies are summarized. This review article aims to provide an overview of solar stills and the various modifications that may be done to improve their overall efficiency.