English
Devices & Sensors
Application Uses
  • Scarcity of potable water for drinking and cooking is a challenge confronting people in remote locations like coastal areas and small islands.
  • Seawater desalination through techniques such as RO and ED are costly propositions, difficult to scale down to individual household levels, and grid power is unreliable in many locations.
  • Many of these locations are blessed with abundant sunshine
  • There is merit in low-tech solutions such as desalination in a solar still, a device that enables evaporation and subsequent condensation of water in an enclosed unit assisted by solar thermal radiation.
Salient Technical Features
  • Maximum output of 5.0 litres/m2/day.
  • Incorporate reflectors in V-trough alignment along the North-South edges of the still, which is the simplest of concentrating technologies to enhance solar intensity on collector
  • Incorporating steps or partitions in the basin. The steps (i) allowed the water to be held in the tilted position, thus maximizing the absorption of solar beam radiation by the suitably tilted absorber surface, (ii) triangular exposure area, avoiding shadow effect as generally reported in literature for stepped solar stills, (iii) reduction in the free space thereby maximizing the partial pressure of water vapour and (iv) enhanced the contact area between water and heated basin surface.
TRL
TRL 5
Scale of Development:

-

Business scope & opportunity

Predominantly societal application. Proliferation anticipated through licensee.

Environment Considerations

Clean and green technology

Status of Licensing
Ready for licensing
Status Commercialization
Not yet licensed
Major Raw Materials Needed

Hardware material like metallic sheets, anodized aluminium sheet, rods, pipes etc.

Saline water of any TDS can be used as feedwater

Major Plant Equipment

Modular units are needed to be fabricated in workshop

Techno-Economics

Considering a 3m2 solar still unit

Water output (average): 12 LPD

300 days in year and 5-year service life: 18000 L

Cost of water/L: ₹4.5/L

Bottling cost: ₹3/L S

elling price: ₹15/L

Profit: ₹7.5/L

Profit/year: ₹27000

Payback: ~3 years

Technology Package

Available on request

Updated on