Improving the yield of fresh water from conventional and stepped solar still with different nanofluids

This experimental work intensively studies the effect of nanoparticle concentration on conventional and stepped solar still. An experimental study was conducted with concentration ranging from 0.05 to 0.2% with Al₂O₃, CuO and TiO₂ both on conventional and stepped solar still. Results showed that by incorporating nanoparticles in the base fluid improves the yield of fresh water from conventional and stepped solar still by 50 and 67% respectively while using Al₂O₃ nano fluid. The temperature of water with Al₂O₃ nanofluid using 0.1 and 0.2% were improved by 3 and 7% respectively, while the improvement in water temperature of CuO and TiO₂ were found to be 5 and 6% respectively for maximum concentration of 0.2% concentration of nano particles. Similarly, the average water temperature of conventional solar still is higher with 0.2% concentration of Al₂O₃ inside the basin.