Factorial design of experiment (DOE) for modeling solar still parameters

Abstract. Water scarcity is a major threat to the future due to the fact that the pollution rate of freshwater resources is getting increased rapidly. At the same time, the level of water usage is dramatically increased. Hence, to fulfill the water demand, converting the brackish, saline water into pure water is one of the viable solutions. Desalination using solar still is a simple technique among various techniques available for salinity removal. Researchers have consistently attempted to improve the performance of solar stills due to poor productivity. This article highlights various factors that have an impact on the performance of the solar still such as solar radiation, basin area, saline water depth, insulation material, the thickness of glass cover, and wind speed. In order to achieve high performance via optimization of the effected parameters required for solar still, the design of experiments (DOE) can determine the most effective parameters and eliminate the least important ones. Moreover, solar still is often complex and time-consuming due to the various parameters that must be taken into consideration. Furthermore, this research focuses on reducing the computing time and determines the most significant parameters of the solar still, such as Basin area, saline water depth, and solar radiation. The theoretical results demonstrate that the most important factor that affects solar still productivity is basin area, saline water depth, and solar radiation respectively. While the insulation thermal conductivity, ambient temperature, and glass thickness have no effect on the performance of still.