Applied Energy 103 (2013) 642652

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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

A review on solar stills for brine desalination

Gang Xiao, Xihui Wang, Mingjiang Ni , Fei Wang, Weijun Zhu, Zhongyang Luo, Kefa Cen
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Institute for Thermal Power Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 22 May 2012
Received in revised form 28 September 2012
Accepted 12 October 2012
Available online 10 November 2012
Keywords:
Desalination
Solar still
Thermal efciency
Productivity

a b s t r a c t
This paper attempts to categorize solar stills into six sorts based on the design guidelines used in each
device. The properties of these design guidelines are detailed and evaluated from the angle of enhancing
the productivity of solar stills. Preferred design guidelines are recommended for various climate conditions. Fundamental heat and mass transfer process analyses are presented to provide a comprehensive
understanding of design principles and to serve as a theoretical guide for structure modication. Most
of popular heat and mass transfer correlations in literatures are summarized and evaluated here.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents
1.
2.

3.
4.
5.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Categorization and analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.
Installing reflectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.
Coupled with solar collectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.
Enhancing condensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4.
Increasing free surface area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.5.
Recovering latent heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.6.
Coupled with heat storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.7.
General analysis of solar distillation process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Effects of climate and operating conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Heat and mass transfer model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. Introduction
Water is distributed on the earth as sea water and fresh water at
percentages of 96.54% and 2.53%, respectively [1], and only 0.36%
of the fresh water is directly available for people [2]. With the
expansion of the population and the development of industry,
fresh water supply has become a serious problem in many areas.
Desalination is believed to be an effective way to satisfy the
increasing demand of fresh water. According to the 22nd GWI/
IDA Worldwide Desalting Plant Inventory, there are 14,451
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 571 87953290; fax: +86 571 87951616.
E-mail address: ceu_ni@zju.edu.cn (M. Ni).
0306-2619/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.10.029

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desalination plants on-line and the global total capacity is close

to 60 million m3/d [3]. Thermal technologies include Multi Stage
Flash (MSF), Multi Effect Distillation (MED), Vapor Compression
(VC), and membrane technologies include Microltration (MF),
Ultraltration (UF), Nanoltration (NF) and Reverse Osmosis
(RO). Among them, MSF, MED and RO are commercially applied
in large capacities in cities and always have high efciencies based
on electrical power consumption.
However, these technologies are not suitable for remote villages
and small islands, e.g. the north and the west of China and islands
in the east and the South China Seas. To provide fresh water for
these places, solar stills may be potentially applicable. Firstly, electrical energy is rather scarce and any electrical facilities are hardly

G. Xiao et al. / Applied Energy 103 (2013) 642652

to be applied. Second, there is often plenty of solar energy. For

example, yearly cumulative solar radiation of most of areas in
the north or the west of China is over 6000 MJ/m2/y. Third, solar
stills are easy and cheap to build and operate. Fourth, there is a
small population and fresh water requirement, which could be satised by solar stills although their productivity is much lower than
those of electricity-driven desalination technologies. Fifth, considering that more and more photovoltaic and thermal plants are applied in these areas, it is likely for solar still to combine with
photovoltaic & thermal (PV/T) systems [4] or concentrated solar
power (CSP) plants. In addition, Kumar and Tiwari [5] reported that
the cost of distilled water produced by a passive solar still was
$0.014/kg for a 30-year life time system. It is also suggested that
a solar distillation plant with a capacity less than 200 kg/d was
more economical than other types of plants. Solar still has not been
widely applied because of a relatively low productivity. To enhance
the productivity and to improve the applicability to various climate
conditions are the most important challenges for the development
of solar stills. By now, a lot of researchers have been involved in
this work on optimizing or redesigning structures, most of which
are tested experimentally. The distillation productivity and thermal efciency have been proposed to evaluate the performance
of a solar still. The thermal efciency is usually dened as:
P
mc
g 3:6P A G, where m is the hourly distilled water production,
a

kg/h; c is the vapor latent heat, kJ/kg; A is the total area of an absorber, m2; and G is the solar radiation intensity over the area of Aa,
W/m2.
Some researchers [69] have reviewed the studies and developments of solar stills. Kabeel and El-Agouz [6], Velmurugan and
Srithar [7] focused on structure modications and their effects
on the productivity and the efciency. Kaushal and Varun [8]
categorized solar stills based on the shape of each device and presented some energy transfer equations of distillation process.
Sampathkumar et al. [9] provided a detailed and specialized
review on active solar distillation. The present work attempts to
categorize solar stills into six sorts based on the design guidelines
and to elaborate properties of each guideline from the angle of
enhancing the productivity of solar stills. Preferred design guidelines are recommended for various climate conditions. Fundamental heat and mass transfer process analyses are carried out to
provide a comprehensive understanding of solar stills. Most of
popular heat and mass transfer correlations in literatures are summarized and analyzed here.

643

2. Categorization and analysis

The rst solar distillation device in the world was built in Chile.
It had an overall area of 4700 m2, consisting of many cells of basic
basin solar still [2]. A classical frame of a basin solar still, as shown
in Fig. 1a, consists of a wooden frame with insulation, a glass cover
and connecting pipes. Solar radiation passes through the glass cover, most of which is absorbed by the bottom surface coated with
black paint, where solar radiation is converted into heat. Brine absorbs the heat and partially evaporates, and the vapor then condenses into distilled water on the inner side of the cover; the
water drops slide into a collector at the lower side of the inclined
cover.
Tayeb [10] reported the experimental results of four basin solar
stills with different glass covers, as shown in Fig. 1. Using a solar still
with a solar radiation absorption area of 0.24 m2 and a condensation
area of 0.267 m2, on sunny days, the yield of distilled water was
1.25 kg/m2/d, and the thermal efciency was 21.8%. Under similar
conditions, a basin still with a semi-sphere cover, a bilayer semisphere cover and an arch cover produced 1.1 kg/m2/d, 1.2 kg/
m2/d and 0.83 kg/m2/d distilled water, respectively. These results
indicate that the inclined at glass cover would be preferred.
Apart from the basin solar still, many other structures have
been proposed, which can be categorized into six sorts based on
design guidelines, as shown in Table 1. Detailed information is discussed in the subsequent sections.

2.1. Installing reectors

Tanaka [13] designed a basin still with internal and external
reectors, as shown in Fig. 2, consisting of a basin liner with internal reectors, a glass cover, and an external reector. Compared to
the conventional basin solar still, more solar radiation is introduced into the still by the reectors. The daily productivity could
be increased by 70100% on winter days [13], and a theoretical
analysis has indicated that the increase in the daily productivity
for the entire year would average 48%, with little enhancement
on summer days [33]. Another theoretical analysis was used to
study the effect of a vertical at plate external reector on the productivity of a tilted wick solar still and showed an average increase
of 9% over a year [34]. Tanaka [35] also indicated that the installation angle of the vertical external reector should be changed
with the seasons to enhance the productivity all the year around.

Fig. 1. Basin solar stills with different glass covers [10].

Categorization
Basic type: basin solar still

Installing reectors

A basin type solar still with internal and external reectors

644

Table 1
Categorization of solar stills.
Authors

Daily solar radiation

(MJ/m2/d)

Ambient
temperature (C)

Wind speed
(m/s)

Location (latitude)

Daily yield
(kg/m2/d)

Efciency
(%)

Tayeb [10]

14.6

1.3

22

Tiwari and Tiwari

[11]
Velmurugan et al.
[12]

21.2

1.7

19

16.2

0.8

El-Minia, Egypt
(28.1N)
New Delhi, India
(28.4N)
Madurai, India
(9.5N)

1.6

39

Tanaka [13,14]

14.6

922

4.0

23.3

25 (average)

Kurume, Japan
(33.2N)
Kurume, Japan
(33.2N)
Muscat, India
(23.4N)

6.8

6.3

Amman, Jordan
(31.6N)
New Delhi, India
(28.4N)
Athens, Greece
(37.6N)

2.3

22

47.7

Glasgow, UK
(55.5N)
Ankara, Turkey
(39.6N)
New Delhi, India
(28.4N)
New Delhi, India
(28.4N)

6.0

52

7.0

75

3.6

26

1.0

Madurai, India
(9.5N)
Suez, Egypt (30N)
Coimbatore India
(11N)
Las Vegas, USA
(36.1N)
Zahedan, Iran
(29.5N)
Fukuoka, Japan
(33.2N)

2.5

60

3.2
1.5

5.5

5.1

46

4.0

52

A tilted wick solar still with a at plate bottom reector

A basin solar still combined with a curved reector

Dev et al. [15]

26.0

3048

1.59

A solar still augmented with a at-plate collector

Badran et al. [16]

23.3

1825

A double-effect active solar still coupled with a compound

parabolic concentration collector
A solar still coupled with a solar collector eld

Prasad and Tiwari

[17]
Voropoulos et al.
[18]

22.6

1730

18.5

15 (day
average)
11 (night
average)

A passive solar still with a separate condenser

Madhlop and
Johnstone [19]
E1-Bahi and Inan
[20]
Dimria et al. [21]

27.0

2028

22.2

1535

12.4

1026

Double condensing chamber solar stills

Aggarwal and
Tiwari [22]

10.3

718

A n type solar still

16.2

0.8

22.3

2636

A weir-type inclined solar still

Velmurugan et al.
[12]
Nafey et al. [23]
Janarthanan et al.
[24]
Sadineni et al. [25]

26.0

2534

1.54

A weir-type cascade solar still

Tabrizi et al. [26]

26.4

2533

09

A solar still with energy storage medium jute cloth

Sakthive et al. [27]

20.2

1122

Recovering vapor
latent heat

A vertical multiple-effect diffusion solar still

Tanaka [28]

15.0

3035

Coimbatore, India
(11N)

13.3

156

Coupled with heat

storage

An integrated basin solar still with a sandy heat reservoir

Tabrizi and Sharak

[29]
El-Sebaii et al.
[30,31]

23.4

04

3.0

24.8

3035

9.0

85

27.1

1830

6.6

57

21.6

2027

0.21.2

Zahedan, Iran
(29.5N)
Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia (22.8N)
Tanta, Egypt
(30.5N)
Tamil Nadu, India
(11.2N)

2.1

Coupled with solar

collectors

A solar still coupled to an outside condenser

Using copper as condenser material

Increasing free
surface area

A oating perforated black plate

A oating cum tilted-wick type solar still

A solar still using phase change material as storage medium

A single-basin solar still integrated with a shallow solar pond
A single basin double slope solar still with energy storing
materials

Murugavel et al.
[32]

Note: this value is the daily productivity of the solar still coupled with a solar collector eld when the cumulative solar radiation is 18.5 MJ/m2/d. The solar eld consists of 24 at-plate solar collectors, but the total area is not
reported.

G. Xiao et al. / Applied Energy 103 (2013) 642652

Enhancing
condensation

14.4

G. Xiao et al. / Applied Energy 103 (2013) 642652

645

Fig. 5. Solar still coupled with a solar collector eld [15].

improve the exibility of conguration of the absorber plate, e.g.

vertical solar absorber plate which is helpful in recovering vapor
latent heat of condensation.
2.2. Coupled with solar collectors
Fig. 2. Solar still with a vertical external reector [11].

Dev et al. [15] reported that the daily yield obtained from the basin
solar still combined with a curved reector were 6.3, 5.6 and
4.3 kg/m2/d at water depths 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03 m respectively.
At same respective water depths, the daily yield obtained from
the basin solar still were 2.1, 1.9, 0.8 kg/m2/d respectively.
Internal reectors are useful to concentrate solar radiation and
easy to maintain, which are recommended when sunlight is weak
or the local temperature is relatively low. External reectors are
preferred to be used to change the direction of solar beams to

An external assisting system allows for a still coupled with a solar collector, e.g., a compound parabolic concentration (CPC) collector or a at plate collector, which introduce extra solar radiation
into the solar still and increase the productivity. Badran et al.
[16] proposed a basin solar still coupled with a at-plate solar collector, as shown in Fig. 3, which consisted of a basin-type still with
a double-slope glass roof, a conventional n-tube at-plate collector, a constant head tank and a feeding tank. The productivity of
the still with a solar collector was 2.3 kg/m2/d with an efciency
of 22.26%, while for the still without a solar collector, the productivity was 1.5 kg/m2/d with an efciency of 28.56%.

Fig. 3. Active solar still coupled with a at plate solar collector [13].

Fig. 4. Active solar still coupled with a CPC [14].

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G. Xiao et al. / Applied Energy 103 (2013) 642652

Fig. 6. Solar still with a separate condenser [16].

enhance the productivity. Bassam and Abu-Hijleh [38] and Rahim

[39] suggested that a properly designed condensation process of
passing cooling water over the glass cover could increase the efciency, whereas a poor design would likely lead to a signicant
drop in efciency [38], which may because that the cooling water
reduced solar radiation to the basin.
A separate condenser could improve the productivity, while the
vapor channel should be designed carefully to avoid much increase
in vapor diffusing resistance. Two ways are recommended here.
One is to enhance convection between the evaporator and the condenser, which can be realized by properly cooling the condensation
surface. Two is to reduce the vapor diffusing distance, e.g. through
conguring a close condensation surface. If a lot of vapor stays in
the evaporator, it will reduce solar radiation to the basin plate
and increase the partial pressure of vapor, which impedes the
evaporation of brine in the basin.

2.4. Increasing free surface area

Fig. 7. Solar still coupled with an outside condenser [20].

Prasad and Tiwari [17] proposed a double effect active solar still
coupled with a compound parabolic concentration (CPC) collector,
as shown in Fig. 4. Water was heated and evaporated in the still;
vapor condensed on the inner side of a glass cover where the latent
heat was transferred to owing water, and secondary vapor condensed on the inner side of the upper glass cover. The inlet temperature of the brine was much higher than that of the still without a
CPC collector.
Voropoulos et al. [18] coupled a solar collector eld with a solar
still and added a heat storage tank to prolong working time. The
proposed equipment consisted of an asymmetric, single-effect
solar still, an integrated storage tank and a at-plate solar collector
eld, as shown in Fig. 5. The systems distillate productivity was
approximately twice of that without a solar collector eld.
Coupled with solar collectors, a solar still always consumes
extra electricity for brine circulation. It is noticed that the installation and the operating costs will increase.
2.3. Enhancing condensation
A good condensation condition is able to facilitate the evaporation of brine in a still. Madhlopa and Johnstone [19] investigated a
passive solar still with a separate condenser, as shown in Fig. 6. It
consisted of a horizontal basin 1 with an evaporator chamber (rst
effect), a basin 2 (second effect), a basin 3 (third effect), a condensing cover and an opaque insulation shield over the condensing cover. They reported that the theoretical productivity was 62% higher
than that of a conventional still.
E1-Bahi and Inan [20] studied a solar still coupled with an outside condenser, as shown in Fig. 7. A stainless steel reector was
added to collect more solar radiation and to provide a shadow
for the condenser. The productivity was 7 kg/m2/d, and the efciency was 75% from June to August, which was conrmed by
Kumar and Bai [36]. It was also reported that a thinner glass cover
[37] and condenser material with high conductivity [21] could

The productivity of a solar still increases with increases in absorber plate area and free surface area of water. Velmurugan
et al. [40] enlarged the areas by integrating ns with the solar still
and found that the average daily productivity increased by 30%.
The productivity was increased by 58%, 67%, 69% or 70% in a n
type solar still with black rubber, sand, pebble or sponge immersed
in brine, respectively [12]. Bassam et al. [41] placed sponge cubes
in a basin solar still to increase the brine free surface and the evaporation rate. In this report, the increase in distillate production was
up to 273% compared with the still without sponge cubes under
the same condition.
Nafey et al. [23] used a oating perforated black plate to maintain thin lm evaporation. Productivity increased by 15% when the
original brine depth was 3 cm, and the enhancement in productivity was more signicant if the original brine depth was deeper. Janarthanan et al. [24] designed a oating tilted-wick type solar still,
as shown in Fig. 8, wherein the brine owed slowly over an inclined surface paved with wicks in a thin layer. Due to its small
heat capacity, the brine evaporated quickly. Compared to a basin
solar still, less time is needed to get fresh water in a tilted wick
type solar still at the beginning and the productivity can be increased by 1650% [2].
Sadineni et al. [25] proposed a weir-type solar still, as shown in
Fig. 9. An inclined type solar still was equipped with a weir-shaped
absorber plate, a condensing glass, a distillate collection trough
and a water circulation system. Hot brine at the outlet was reintroduced into the still and mixed with feed brine to increase
the inlet temperature. For a single-pane glass cover, the average
distillate productivity was 5.5 kg/m2/d during August and September in Las Vegas, and it was approximately 20% higher than
that of the conventional stills under the same condition.
Tabrizi et al. [26] investigated a weir-type cascade solar still, as
shown in Fig. 10, in which a 15-step absorber was covered by
matte black paint. Each step was equipped with a weir 5 mm in
height and 59 cm in length to force the owing water to pass
through the evaporation surface, which led to the increase of the
residence time of the water in the still. A glass cover formed an
enclosure space with a 2.5 cm air gap. Distilled water was guided
to a collection channel, and the concentrated brine was discharged
from the outlet. The productivity was 7.4 kg/m2/d when the feed
water ow rate was 0.065 kg/min. Their results showed a decrease
in the daily productivity with an increase in feed water ow rate. It
is noticed that dry points, areas on the basin plate being not covered by feed water, should be avoided at low feed water ow rates.
The specied value of the optimum feed water ow rate should differ with geometry sizes of solar stills.

G. Xiao et al. / Applied Energy 103 (2013) 642652

647

Fig. 8. Floating tilted-wick type solar still [22].

Fig. 9. Schematic of a weir-type solar still [23].

Fig. 10. Weir-type cascade solar still [24].

It is effective to enhance the productivity by increasing free surface area, e.g. immersing sponge cubes, in a basin solar still.
According to Bassam et al.s report [41], black sponge cubes with
sponge-to-water volume ratio of 20% are recommended for a basin
solar still while the optimized size of a cube side differs with water
depth in the basin. However, it is not recommended to increase
free surface area by owing brine because a lot of sensible heat
would loss with hot brine being drained out.
2.5. Recovering latent heat
Recovering vapor latent heat can enhance both distillate productivity and thermal efciency. Tanaka et al. [42,43] investigated
a multiple-effect solar still with a triangle cross-section, which
consisted of a horizontal basin liner, a tilted double glass cover

Fig. 11. Vertical multiple-effect diffusion solar still coupled with a reector [25].

and vertical parallel partitions covering saline-soaked wicks. Their

experimental results showed that a still with 5-mm diffusion gaps
between 11 partitions produced distillate at a rate of 14.818.7 kg/
m2/d when incident solar radiation on the glass cover ranged from
20.9 to 22.4 MJ/m2/d and ambient air temperatures in the range of
1930 C. In addition, Tanaka et al. [44,45] proposed a vertical multiple-effect diffusion (VMED) solar still coupled with a heat-pipe
solar collector. According to their theoretical analysis, a productivity of 21.8 kg/m2/d was attained under a daily cumulative solar
radiation of 22.4 MJ/m2. Another VMED structure that was studied
outdoors is shown in Fig. 11 [28]. The maximum productivity was
13.4 kg/m2/d for a still with six effects and 5 mm diffusion gaps

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G. Xiao et al. / Applied Energy 103 (2013) 642652

when the global solar radiation on the horizontal surface and on

the glass cover ranged from 13.4 to 15.7 MJ/m2/d and from 20.2
to 22.9 MJ/m2/d, respectively. Among the mentioned stills, the
VMED type still has the highest productivity experimentally
because it has a high efciency of heat recovery. The distance
between two neighboring effects should be carefully designed. If
they are too close, brine will easily mix with distilled water, while
too far, low efciency will be gained. A distance of 520 mm is
recommended here.
Schwarzer et al. [46] investigated a system employing a solar
collector and a six-stage desalination tower with heat recovery.
The hot brine in the rst stage transferred energy by evaporation,
radiation, and convection to the second stage and also lost some
energy to the environment. The energy transferred from the rst
stage heated up the brine in the second stage, and the heat recovery process was repeated until the sixth stage. The last stage did
not produce fresh water and was used as the salty water inlet to
the unit. The total productivity is the sum of the productivity of
the rst ve stages. According to the theoretical simulation results,
the system had a production rate of 25 kg/m2/d, which was ve
times greater than that of the basin type solar desalination unit.
The disadvantage is a higher installation and operating costs compared to the conventional unit.
2.6. Coupled with heat storage
Solar energy is intermittent in nature, and its intensity depends
on the hour of the day and local weather conditions. One of the
solutions to utilize uctuating solar energy on a continuous basis
is to incorporate heat storage systems [47]. Tabrizi and Sharak
[29] investigated a basin solar still integrated with a sandy heat
reservoir. In a 14-h test, the productivity was 3 kg/m2, while that
of a conventional basin solar still was 1.7 kg/m2.
El-Sebaii et al. [30] investigated a single basin solar still coupled
with a phase change material (PCM) storage, as shown in Fig. 12. A
considerable amount of heat would be stored in the PCM during
sunshine hours. After sunset, the PCM acted as a heat source for
the basin water to evaporate. In addition, the temperature difference between brine and glass cover became greater because the
ambient temperature of night was lower than that of daylight.
The productivity of the system increased from 5 kg/m2/d to
9 kg/m2/d on sunny summer days. In addition, El-Sebaii et al.
[31] studied a single-slope basin solar still integrated with a shallow solar pond (SSP) and found that the average productivity and
thermal efciency were higher than those obtained without the
SSP by 52.4% and 43.8%, respectively, over a year.

Fig. 12. Solar still coupled with PCM [28].

Murugavel et al. [32] reported that a single basin double slope

solar still with energy storing materials like quartzite rock, red
brick pieces, cement concrete pieces, washed stones and iron
scraps was able to store the excess energy and to increase the night
time production. Among the materials used in their experiments,
3/4 in. sized quartzite rock was the most effective one, obtaining
a productivity of 2.1 kg/m2/d with an enhancement of 6.2% compared to still with same amount of water, without any energy storing material.
Heat storage prolongs the working time over night, which will
increase the total productivity. It is recommended in practical
application although the installation and operating costs would increase a little.
2.7. General analysis of solar distillation process
A general process of distillation in solar stills is summarized in
Fig. 13. There are ve sub-processes, including solar radiation
absorption by brine and basin plate, heat transfer between basin
plate and brine, heat transfer between brine and condensation surface and heat loss from condenser to the surroundings. Various
methods are proposed to improve these ve sub-processes to
enhance the productivity, which are summarized as six design
guidelines, as the dash-line parts in Fig. 13. To provide a deep understanding about the effects of these six guidelines in enhancing the
productivity, main equations for calculating distilled water are presented as follows.
An energy balance equation for brine can be written by,

saw GA qk Ak qe qc qr A Mw C p;w

dT w
dt

Heat ux from brine to glass cover by evaporation is expressed

by,


1
Pw  Pc  T w 3
qe 14:4  103 Pw  Pc  T w  T g
3
268:9  10  Pw

The hourly productivity can be calculated by,

3:6  qe  A

The total production P is:

ts
X
m

where s is the transmissivity of a glass cover; aw is the absorptivity

of brine; G is the solar radiation intensity, W/m2; A is the free surface area, m2; Ak is the heat transfer area between basin plate and
brine, m2; qe, qc, qr are the heat uxes transferred from the brine
to the condensation surface by evaporation, convection, radiation,
respectively, W/m2, which are discussed in detail later; qk is the
heat ux transferred from basin plate to brine, W/m2; Mw is the
mass of the brine, kg; Cp,w is the specic heat of the brine, J/kg K;
t is time, s; Tw is the temperature of the brine, K; Tc is the temperature of the condensation surface, K; where Pw, Pc are the corresponding partial pressures at temperatures Tw, Tc respectively, Pa;
m is the hourly productivity, kg/h; ts is the total working time of
a solar still, h.
Eqs. (2)(4) indicate that the productivity increases with the increase of working time ts, the temperature difference between
brine and condensation surface (Tw  Tc) or the water free surface
area A. Installing reectors or coupling with solar collectors introduces more solar radiation into the basin plate and brine, increasing the temperature of brine Tw. Enhancing condensation is to
decrease the temperature of condensation surface Tc. Increasing
free surface area A facilitates evaporation. Recovering latent heat

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G. Xiao et al. / Applied Energy 103 (2013) 642652

Fig. 13. General process of solar distillation.

Table 2
Preferred design guidelines for various climate conditions.
Climate conditions

Preferred design guidelines

Yearly cumulative solar radiation (MJ/m2/y)

Yearly average ambient temperature (C)

42005000
42005000
>6700
54006700
>6700
50005400

4.522.2
4.522.2
6.514.4
5.212.9
11.214.4
5.822.2

reduces heat loss to the surroundings, which could be reused by

subsequent effects, and it also decreases the temperature of condensation surface. Coupling with heat storage prolongs the working time ts over night, which will increase the total productivity.
As to energy recovery, VMED type solar still is the most excellent [28]. Besides, phase change material (PCM) storage also works
well, which could store energy absorbed by the basin liner during
sunshine hours and discharge it for basin water evaporation after
sunset [30]. A basin solar still with sensible heat storage materials
like quartzite rock, red brick pieces, cement concrete pieces,
washed stones, and iron scraps is reported to be able to store energy and increase the night time production [32]. The materials
also play a role in increasing the free surface area of brine, which
facilitates the evaporation process. In addition, double-basin solar
stills [48], separate-condenser solar stills [19] or double condensing chamber solar stills [22] are able to recover the heat from glass
cover.
Based on the data reported in the reviewed papers, preferred
design guidelines are recommended to be applied under various
climate conditions, as shown in Table 2.

3. Effects of climate and operating conditions

Generally, there are two sorts of factors that inuence the distillation process of a solar still: climate condition and operating
condition. The climate condition mainly includes solar intensity,
wind velocity, and ambient temperature, while operating condition includes the cover angle, the material coated or placed on
the basin, the depth of the brine, the temperature difference between the brine and glass cover and the insulation of a solar still,
etc.
The productivity of a solar still increases with solar intensity
[49] because higher solar intensity brings higher temperature of
brine, which facilitates the evaporation process. A cover with an
inclination angle of the local latitude could fully receive solar radiation, as a result, increasing the productivity [50]. In addition, the
material coated on the basin plays an important role in absorbing
solar radiation, and some special material can also act as heat storage mediums, which is helpful in increasing productivity [32,51].

Installing reectors
Coupled with solar collectors
Enhancing condensation
Increasing free surface area
Recovering latent heat
Coupled with heat storage system

According to Nafey et al. [52], using black gravel of sizes in the

range of 2030 mm improved productivity by 19%.
There are some controversies about the effects of ambient factors among different researchers. Voropoulos et al. [53] reported
that a low ambient temperature was helpful in improving productivity, while Badran [54] published a contrary result. Badran [54]
and El-Sebaii [55] suggested that increasing wind speed enhanced
productivity, but Nafey et al. [49] obtained a higher productivity
with a lower-velocity wind. The reason of these contradictions
may be that a lower ambient temperature or a higher velocity of
wind brings greater temperature difference between the brine
and the glass cover, as well as a greater heat loss to the surroundings. The former has a positive effect on productivity, while the latter has a negative effect.
A thin brine layer always brings a high productivity [49,5658].
It is because that the heat capacity of a thin brine layer is small,
which makes the brine to be evaporated quickly. Nafey et al. [49]
reported that a daily productivity of 5.2 kg/m2/d was obtained
when the brine depth was 2 cm, whereas it was 4.5 kg/m2/d for
an 8 cm depth. For the weir type cascade solar still, Tabrizi
et al. [26] found that a lower ow rate of feed water resulted in
a higher productivity, which was conrmed by Aybar et al. [59],
who used an inclined solar water distillation system.
The production of distilled water is highly dependent on the
temperature of the water in the still and the temperature of the
glass cover and on their difference. For brine in a still at temperatures exceeding 37 C, more than 50% of the solar radiation transmitted into the still contributes to the evaporation process [60].
Productivity increases with a temperature difference between the

Fig. 14. Energy transfer process in a basin solar still.

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G. Xiao et al. / Applied Energy 103 (2013) 642652

brine and the glass cover [6165]. When the temperature difference was 6 C, the productivity was 0.1 kg/m2/h, whereas the
productivity was 0.85 kg/m2/h when the temperature difference
was 11 C. For the same temperature difference of 10 C, a productivity of 0.8 kg/m2/h was obtained when the brine temperature was 70 C, whereas the productivity was only 0.1 kg/m2/h
when the brine temperature was 30 C [61]. Additionally, the
material and the thickness of the insulation [48,6667] are important in a solar still. Al-Karaghouli and Alnaser [48] reported that
the monthly-average daily output in June was 2.46 kg/m2/d for a
non-insulated still, and it was 2.84 kg/m2/d for an insulated still,
respectively. Khalifa and Hamood [67] suggested that a suitable
insulation could bring about a maximum productivity increase of
80%.
4. Heat and mass transfer model
For solar stills, the basic principle can be summarized below
and illustrated in Fig. 14, although there are various mathematical
models that have been proposed.
An energy balance equation for brine can be written as:

saw GA qk A qe qc qr A Mw C p;w

dT w
dt

where the unit of T is K.

Elsafty et al. [71] provided another expression:

PT 0:14862T  0:0036526T 2 0:0001124T 3   1000

where the unit of T is C.

Convective and radiative heat uxes transferred from the glass
cover to the surroundings are given by:

qga;c hT g  T a
qga;r reg

where ag is the absorptivity of the glass; Ag is the area of the glass

cover, m2; qga,c and qga,r are the heat uxes transferred from the
glass cover to the atmosphere through convection and radiation,
respectively, W/m2; Mg is the mass of the glass cover, kg; Cp,g is
the specic heat of the glass cover, J/kg K; and Tg is the temperature
of the glass cover, K. It is noticed that Tg is difcult to be measured
accurately, which may cause unexpected errors in predicting the
distillate productivity [68].

qe he T w  T g

qr hr T w  T g

15

16

while another set of equations was used by Madhlopa and

Johnstone [19]:

2:8 3uu 6 5 m=s

17

6:15u0:8 u > 5 m=s

Eq. (17) is recommended because Eq. (16) overpredicts h as it

includes the effect of radiation with forced and natural convection.
Aside from Dunkles model, researchers have proposed other
heat and mass transfer empirical correlations for solar stills. Adhikaris correlation [72] is one of the most popular correlations:

me aDT 0 n Pw  Pg

DT 0 T w  T g

18

Pw  Pg  T w

19

268:9  103  Pw

where

qc hc T w  T g

14

h 5:7 3:8uu < 5 m=s

 
i
T 4g  T 4a T 4g  T 4s

where Ta is the ambient temperature, K; h is the convective heat

transfer coefcient between the glass cover and the surroundings,
W/m2/K; Ts is the temperature of sky, K.
Tanaka [35] provided an equation for h:

dT g
dt

h

13

T s 0:0552T 4a

An energy balance equation for the glass cover is given by:

qe qc qr A ag GAg qga;c qga;r Ag M g C p;g

12

1
;
4

104 < Gr < 2:51  105

1
;
3

2:51  105 < Gr < 107

where hc, he, hr are the convective, evaporative, and radiative heat
transfer coefcients, respectively, W/m2/K.
According to Dunkles [69] model proposed in 1961 based on a
modied Grashef number, a group of complete heat and mass
transfer correlations can be written as shown in the following
equation:

and the value of a is a constant for a particular operating temperature range of a solar still. Some operating temperature ranges are given in Table 3.
Zheng et al. [73] established an improved heat and mass transfer correlation:


1
Pw  Pg  T w 3
hc 0:884 T w  T g
3
268:9  10  Pw
Pw  Pg
3
he 16:273  10 hc
Tw  Tg


2
2
hr er T w T g  T w T g

1
1
1
e
1

me

ew

10

eg

where Pw, Pg are the corresponding partial pressures at temperatures Tw, Tg respectively, Pa; r is the StefanBoltzman constant,
W/m2/K; and ew, eg are the emissivities of the brine and the glass
cover, respectively.
Kumar and Hamood [70] correlated P and T (283363 K) by:



5144
PT exp 25:317 
T

11

hc

qf C paf Le1n



Mw Pw Pg

R Tw Tg

20

where R is the universal gas constant, C paf is the specic heat capacity of humid air, J/kg/K; n = 0.26. This correlation can be used for a
wider range of temperatures (35 C < Tw < 86 C) and Rayleigh numbers (3.5  103 < Ra < 106).
The above models are summarized in Table 4. Dunkles model is
based on the assumption of free convection ignoring inuence of

Table 3
Values of a for various operating temperature ranges [72].
Temperature (C)

40
60
80

a  109
Gr < 2.51  105

Gr > 2.51  105

8.1202
8.1518
8.1895

9.7798
9.6707
9.4936

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G. Xiao et al. / Applied Energy 103 (2013) 642652

Table 4
Summary of representative correlations.
Researchers

Models

Properties

Applicable
conditions

Dunkle [69]

Eq. (10)

Gr 6 2.51  105

Adhikari et al. [72]

Eqs. (18)
and (19)

A modied Grashof number and empirical correlation developed by Jakob for free convection of air in an
enclosure were used. An experimental value of 0.016273 was used to account for the effect of water vapor
pressure in correlations
Thermophysical properties of humid air used in the calculation were varying with temperature. It was a tted
correlation based on various models

Zheng et al. [73]

Eq. (20)

Based on the analogy of heat and mass transfer

Convection
mass transfer

evaporation. The values of various thermophysical parameters are

chosen corresponding to the proposed normal range of operation
of a solar still. Adhikaris correlation is a tting expression based
on several models. Zhengs correlations are applicable when evaporation is a convection mass transfer process. Generally, Dunkles
model is recommended when the Grashof number is no greater
than 2.51  105, and Adhikaris correlation is preferred when Grashof number is greater than 2.51  105.
5. Summary
This work reviews the studies and developments of solar stills.
Solar stills are categorized into six sorts based on design guidelines. Installing reectors and solar collectors are more practical
in places where solar radiation is weak and the ambient temperature is relatively low. Increasing free surface area, recovering vapor
latent heat, installing a heat storage system and enhancing condensation are more suitable for places where solar radiation is relatively strong.
As to the future R&D perspectives, the following is highlighted.
(1) It is recommended to make small-scale commercial application,
ranging from 20 to 200 kg/d, to supply fresh water for shermen or
small villages in remote lands. (2) It is promising to develop solar
stills combined with solar power systems, especially concentrated
solar power (CSP) plants, where much waste heat could be recovered for desalination and a lot of water is needed for power generating and mirrors cleaning. (3) Further studies should be
conducted to improve the solar desalination technologies, especially in the elds of coupling with heat storage and various waste
heat sources.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51276167 and
50806013), Important Science & Technology Specic Projects of
Zhejiang Province (No. 2012C01022-1), the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2010CB732200), the Natural Science
Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No. Y12E060029), China International Cooperation Project (No. 2011DFR60190), and the Fundamental
Research Funds For
the
Central Universities
(2012FZA4012).
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