Solar still thermal efficiency: A comparative study of innovative Frustum of Square Pyramid design and standard single slope design.

This study aims to compare the thermal efficiency of two types of solar still which use renewable energy for the production of pure water from domestic kitchen wastewater. A Novel Frustum of Square Pyramid Solar Still performance was compared with a standard single slope solar still. The experimental setup or this study included Novel Frustum of Square Pyramid Solar Still as group 1 and standard single slope solar stills as group 2. The stills used were made of GI and acrylic sheets. The active area of both the stills were kept the same. The sample size is calculated as 20 samples per group and a total of 40 samples with 80% of total G power. The results show that the still with frustum of pyramid shape had higher thermal efficiency compared to the still with single slope. The average efficiency of the still with frustum of the pyramid was 22.84% and the average efficiency of the still with single slope was 15.98%. Thus, the still with frustum of the pyramid had an 7.16% higher efficiency. The statistical analysis shows that there exists a statistically significant difference between novel frustum of square pyramid and standard single slope solar still on thermal efficiency with p value p=0.000 (p<0.05). The study concluded that the still with novel frustum of square pyramid shape was more efficient than the still with single slope. The still with frustum of the pyramid had a 7.16% higher efficiency. The higher efficiency of the still can be attributed to the increased surface area exposed to the renewable energy sunlight, which allowed for better absorption of radiation and more efficient evaporation of water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]