The efficiency of a Pyramid-shaped solar still

Abstract

Clean water is essential for human life. The availability of clean water affects people worldwide. A large number of people without direct access to clean drinking water live within close proximity of an ocean, and therefore have direct access to saltwater.  A low-cost, sustainable method for removing the salt from the water would have huge benefits for these people.  Different types of desalination models have recently been developed to remove salt and purify the water. However, these models either have a very low yield of purified water or are cost prohibitive for most people in poor regions of the world.  The objective of this study was to create a cost-efficient solar-still desalination model that can be used anywhere in the world, especially in developing countries that currently lack the infrastructure and resources to provide clean water to residents. The system designed in this study was able to effectively evaporate water in the first step of the purification process. However, only preliminary results were obtained due to time limitation and the need to make design modifications to improve the collection of the evaporated water.