4-E analysis of pyramid solar still augmented with external condenser, evacuated tubes, nanofluid and ultrasonic foggers: A comprehensive study

In this work, pyramid solar still performance was enhanced by using evacuated tubes, external condenser, nanoparticles, and ultrasonic foggers. Experimental measurements were recorded and analyzed to investigate the influence of combining nanoparticles and ultrasonic foggers to the modified pyramid solar still (MPSS) by evacuated tubes and external condenser compared with the conventional pyramid solar still (CPSS). Compared to CPSS, the results showed that MPSS by six evacuated tubes and an external condenser has higher freshwater output, energy efficiency, and exergy efficiency by 91.09%, 18.48%, and 45.26%, respectively. While, adding 1 wt% carbon black (CB) nanoparticle to this MPSS can change these percentages to 132.86%, 28.22% and 75.43%. Moreover, adding three ultrasonic foggers with nanoparticles changed the enhancement percentages to 162.15%, 34.26%, and 81.51%. The economic analysis showed the effectiveness of the suggested modifications, and the cost per liter of freshwater can be decreased by up to 32.04% compared with CPSS. Depending on the environmental analysis, the highest environmental parameter (CO₂ emissions) was 1.379 ton-CO₂/year for the MPSS by all proposed modifications. So, all proposed modifications can be considered effective according to environmental, exergoeconomic, and enviroeconomic point of view.