Enhancing yield of double slope solar distillers through experimental studies

Water resources are still considered as a big challenge that need to be tackled especially in a country like Oman with available sea water and sun energy.  The idea of utilizing solar energy in the distillation of sea water will lead to a success in helping the economy of Oman and at the same time, assisting the rural people in getting water that can be used in irrigation and drinking purpose with lowest cost.  The sultanate of Oman over the year receives a high degree of solar radiation and in an average of 9.49 hours per day of sunshine with 18.7l MJ/m2 per day of solar radiation. The sultanate of Oman has a coastline of about 1700 km with a population of more than 5 million. Many villages nearer to coastal area of Oman are occupied by rural people who need to have pure and fresh water. Desalination through solar still is one of the desalination techniques, which is quite suited in coastal areas for the purification of sea water using solar energy. In this study, sea water was distilled using double slope solar still and wadi stone and aluminium reflector were used to enhance the yield of the solar stills.