Water purification using solar still with/without nano-fluid: A review

The development of water purification technologies based on solar energy is the need of time as the issue of water scarcity is the contemporary problem throughout the world due to population explosion, fast industrial growth, and other anthropogenic activities. Many designs of solar desalination systems have been analyzed based on the concept of thermodynamics and heat and mass transfer. The thermal modeling of so far desalination system is done by writing an equation based on balancing the energy and then solving these equations with an aim to express the unknown variables in terms of some known variables followed by simulation using either computational program written in MATLAB or with the help of software. The current review paper summarizes the thermal modeling of solar desalination unit loaded with or without nano-fluid. It has been observed that the incorporation of nano-particles in solar desalination system results in the enhancement of the output of the system. It has been observed that passive solar still with double slope top cover reflects better performance. At last, a confined conclusion has been made with the applicable realistic approach in terms of future scope. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Mechanical and Energy Technologies.