Performance Enhancement of Tubular Solar Still With Various Rotating Wicked Materials—An Experimental Approach

Abstract The need for freshwater grows by the day, yet the amount of freshwater accessible worldwide is insufficient to fulfil it. The distillation of saltwater could be a way to meet the demand for freshwater. The current study investigates the experimental performance enhancement of a tubular solar still (TSS) with various rotating wick materials. A rotating drum consisting of multiple wick materials (black bamboo cotton fabric, jute cloth, terry cotton, and polyester) was placed within the tube to increase the evaporation rate. The basin water depth was set at 2 cm to increase the productivity of distillate water. The black bamboo cotton fabric wick outperformed the jute cloth wick, terry cotton wick, polyester wick, and conventional tubular solar still (CTSS) by 5.7%, 12.44%, 19.94%, and 48%, respectively, while maintaining the wicked drum speed around 1 rpm. Because of its moisture-wicking nature, the efficiency of a TSS with a rotating wick made of black bamboo cotton fabric is 50.65% greater than that of a CTSS. Compared with other wick materials, it had a high absorption and evaporation rate. Furthermore, the performance of TSS was investigated, using a black bamboo cotton fabric wicked drum at 0.3, 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 rpm. The studies indicated that a wicked drum speed of 0.5 rpm improves the productivity of approximately 7.474 kg/m2. Furthermore, the average TSS efficiency was increased by 70.8% compared with the CTSS.