Clean Water Production Enhancement through the Integration of Small-Scale Solar Stills with Solar Dish Concentrators (SDCs)—A Review

• Published in: Sustainability Vol. 14; no. 9; p. 5442
• Main Authors: Yusof, Mohd Fazly, Zainol, Mohd Remy Rozainy Mohd Arif, Sandu, Andrei Victor, Riahi, Ali, Zakaria, Nor Azazi, Shaharuddin, Syafiq, Aziz, Mohd Sharizal Abdul, Mohamed Noor, Norazian, Vizureanu, Petrica, Zawawi, Mohd Hafiz, Ikhsan, Jazaul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.05.2022
• Subjects: Absorbers; Arsenic removal; Bacteria; Boiling points; Desalination; Developing countries; Disinfection; Drinking water; Electricity; Emission standards; Groundwater; Heat; Hepatitis; Hygiene; LDCs; Operating temperature; Pathogens; Public health; Rural areas; Salinity; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Solar collectors; Solar energy; Solar stills; Surface water; Thermal resistance; Tracking systems; Tropical diseases; Viruses; Water quality; Water scarcity; Water temperature; Water treatment; Water yield; Waterborne diseases; Saudi Arabia; Bangladesh; Pakistan; Egypt; Africa; East Asia; Malaysia; Nigeria; Nepal; India
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su14095442

The conventional solar still, as a water treatment technique, has been reported to produce water at a low working temperature where various thermal resistance pathogens could survive in their distillate. In this work, the reviews of previous research on the quality of water produced by passive solar stills and their productivities in initial basin water temperatures were first presented and discussed. The next review discussed some recent studies on the performances of small-scale solar stills integrated with SDCs (with and without sun-tracking systems (STSs)) to observe the operating temperatures from early hours until the end of operations, daily water yield, and cost per liter. Based on these findings, it was revealed that SDCs with STSs indicated an instant increase in the absorber water temperature up to 70 °C at the starting point of the experiments in which this temperature range marked the unbearable survival of the pathogenic organisms and viruses, particularly the recent SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, disinfection was also observed when the absorbers’ water temperature reached beyond the boiling point until the end of operations. This indicates the effectiveness of SDCs with STS in reflecting a large amount of sun’s rays and heat to the small-scale absorbers and providing higher operating absorbers temperatures compared to immobile SDCs. Daily productivities and costs per liter of the SDCs with STSs were found to be higher and lower than those of the other previous passive and active solar stills. Therefore, it is recommended that small-scale absorbers integrated with SDCs and STS can be used as a cost-effective and reliable method to produce hygienic pathogen-free water for the communities in remote and rural areas which encounter water scarcity and abundant annual bright sunshine hours.