DESALINATION

Desalination 116 (1998) 4 5 - 5 6

ELSEVIER

Solar distillation: a promising alternative for water provision with

free energy, simple technology and a clean environment
Hassan E.S. Fath
Mechanical Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
Tel. (203) 546-9378; Fax (203) 587-8294, 597-1853
Received 27 December 1997 ; accepted 13 M a y 1998

Abstract

Solar distillation presents a promising alternative for saline water desalination that can partially support humanity's
needs for flesh water with flee energy, simple technology and a clean environment. The development of solar distillation
systems has demonstrated their suitability for the desalination process when the weather conditions are favorable and
the demand is not too large, i.e., less than 200 m3/d. The problem of low daily productivity of the solar stills triggered
scientists to investigate various means of improving still productivity and thermal efficiency in order to reduce water
production cost. This paper presents an overall review and technical assessment of the various and up-to-date
developments in single and multi-effect solar stills. The development in still configurations, the problems encountered
with units during the course of operation as well as the impact on the environment are addressed.

Keywords: Solar energy; Desalination

1. Introduction
Where the demand for fresh water exceeds the
amount that fresh water sources can meet,
desalination of lower quality water provides a
reasonable new fresh water source. Desalination
(desalting) of brackish water and seawater to
provide the needed drinking water fulfills a basic
social need and, in general, it does this without any
serious impact on the environment. As a result,
there has been a dramatic worldwide increase in
the number and capacity of desalination processes

and plants. A diversity of desalination technologies are being used to separate fresh water from
saline water; including multi stage flash (MSF),
multiple effect (ME), vapor compression (VC),
reverse osmosis (RO), ion exchange, electrodialysis, phase change and solvent extraction.
These technologies are expensive, however, for the
production of small amount of fresh water. On the
other hand, the use of conventional energy sources
(hydrocarbon fuels) to drive these technologies has
a negative impact on the environment.

0011-9164/98/$ - see front matter 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All fights reserved
PII S 0 0 1 1 - 9 1 6 4 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 5 6 - 3

46

H.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

Solar distillation, on the other hand, provides a

promising alternative desalting process that can
partially support humanity's needs for fresh water
with free energy, simple technology and a clean
environment. The development of solar distillation
has demonstrated its suitability for saline water
desalination when the weather conditions are
favorable and the demand is not too large, i.e., less
than 200 m3/d. The problem of low daily productivity of the solar stills triggered scientists to
investigate various means of improving still
productivity and thermal efficiency for minimum
water production cost. These means include
various passive and active methods for singleeffect stills. Several workers have also tried to
condense the produced water vapor externally (in
additional condensing surfaces). On the other
hand, the wasted latent heat of condensation was
also recovered so as to increase the production of
the distillate water and improve system efficiency.
This was carried out in two or more stages,
generally referred to as a multi-effect solar distillation system.
This paper presents an overall review and
technical assessment of the various and up-to-date
developments in single- and multi-effect solar
stills, The developed still configurations, the
various problems encountered with the units
during the course of operation as well as the
impact of solar distillation technology on the
environment are addressed. The developments in

single-effect stills, the various problems encountered with units during the course of operation and
a typical economic break-down will be presented
and discussed in Section 2, while the development
in the multiple-effect stills will be presented in
Section 3. The characteristics of solar distillation
concentrates disposal and concerns on the environment will be addressed in Section 4.

2. Developments in single effect stills

The thermal efficiency and the daily
production per m 2 of the single effect solar still
(Fig. 1) can be increased by various passive
methods such as lowering depth of water in the
basin, injecting black dye in the water mass, and
reducing side/bottom heat losses. It could also be
improved through active methods of integrating
the still with either a solar heater or solar
concentrator. The classification of these development techniques are shown in Fig. 2. These
techniques are addressed and summarized below.
2.1. Modifications using passive methods

Different techniques and configuration modifications and developments have been introduced in
literature to passively improve the single-effect
stills. These techniques, configuration modifications and developments are enormous and will,
therefore, be highlighted and briefly discussed:

Gloss cover

.....

: ,.o::o

Bine drain

Fig.1. Single-effect basin still.

47

H.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

Single Effect Solar Stills
6 ~ o ~ ~.
Passive Stills
Basin
Diffusion

~ , ~ ~t'~s

Active Stills
Wick

Integrated Wifll
Solar Collee[ing System

Ofl~exs

~.

,I,

Solar
H~ate~

Solar
Concet*tTato~s

Waste Heat
Rccovc~

Fig. 2. Classifications of developments for single-effect

solar stills.
2.1.1. Basin stills

1. Single-slope vs double-slope basin stills:

Comparison of the two configurations of basin
type stills, single slope and double slope, shows
that on the basis of motion of the sun, in different
seasons and locations, the maximum radiation may
be higher in double-slope stills and the performance may be better. On the other hand, single
slope has less convection and radiation losses, and
the shaded region may be utilized for additional
condensation as will be seen below. On the basis
of yearly performance data for Delhi climatic
conditions, Tiwari and Yadav [1] concluded that a
single slope still gives better performance than a
double slope for cold climatic conditions. For
summer climatic conditions the double slope gives
better performance.
2. Still with cover cooling: Evaporation rate
can be increased if the difference in temperature
between the basin (heat sources) and the glass
cover (heat sink) increases. This can be achieved
by either increasing the basin temperature or
decreasing the cover temperature or both. Two
cooling arrangements have been suggested, both
using a double glass cover. These two methods are
shown in Fig. 3, and are termed feed back flow and
counter flow. Results have shown that cover
cooling produces an increase in the productivity of
the still, with the improvement when using the
feed back flow being greater than when using the
counter flow [2], since part of the sensible heat
gained by cooling the glass cover is utilized in the
feed.

off,,o~
t
~6~ .

r tlow

Fig. 3. Cooling of glass cover by (a) feed back flow, and

(b) counter flow.
3. Still withtreated cover surface: Baladori and
Eldin [3] showed that the use of sodium rectasilicate or hydrofluoric acid to treat the inner
surface of the glass cover increases its wettability
and reduces the minimum permissible cover slope
1.5 o from the horizontal plan, which increases the
yield of the still. Treated cover surface adds, however, the initial cost of the still.
4. Still with additional condenser: Fath and
Elsherbiny [4] added a passive condenser in the
shaded region of a single-slopped still, shown in
Fig. 4. The authors indicated that purging the
vapor from the still to the additional condenser is
a function of the volume ratio of the additional
condenser, and the still efficiency increased by
45%. Natural circulation increases the still
productivity by up to 75% depending on the
circulation flow resistance.
5. Still with black dye/muddy water: Lawrence
et al. [5] indicated that: (a) there is a significant
effect of dye on still performance particularly for
large water depth, and (b) black dye gives a better
performance than violet and red dyes.

48

H.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

Condenser

I
Fig. 4. Single-slopped still with passive condenser [4],
Muddy water is opaque, and so the incident
solar radiation gets absorbed mostly around the top
layer. The results of Onyegegbu [8] for distillation
of muddy pond water indicated (on the daily
basics) that the muddy and clear water samples
yielded the same distillate output. Not much
information is available on muddy and polluted
water, which in some regions of the world may be
the only source of feed water.
2.1.2. Wick stills

It has already been established that a reduction

in the depth of brine in the still improves the
productivity, mainly due to the higher basin
temperature. The advantage of the wick is to keep
the brine as shallow as possible (with low heat
capacity) while avoiding dry spots.
1. Single-wick still: The results of a still of this
type using a plastic cover located at Valparasio,
Chile, showed a production rate of 3.8 to 4.4 l/m2/d
with an operational efficiency of about 40-46%.
An improved design for the wick-type collectorevaporator still was created by Moustafa et al. [6].
The results of this design indicate an improvement
in productivity and operational efficiency.
2. Multi-wick stills: Tiwari et al. [7] proposed
a double-condensing, multi-wick still. Excess
vapor can then be condensed on the additional
surface and reduce the heat load on the glass

cover, reduces class cover temperature, which in

turn enhances evaporation rate. The experimental
results showed a 20% increase in the still
productivity over the simple multi-wick still. Fig. 5
shows a cross-sectional view and plant layout of a
double-slope multi-wick solar distillation unit with
a capacity of 85 l/d [8] that was installed in Delhi,
India, in 1981.
3. Wick vs basin stills: The productivity of the
multi-wick stills is always higher than conventional basin stills due to the negligible heat
capacity of the water mass in the multi-wick stills.
Tiwari and Yadav [8] indicated that the multi-wick
distillation plant will be more economical for a
medium-scale installation. For larger scale supply
of distilled water, the basin type is preferred
because of its simplicity and low cost.
4. Combined wick-basin stills: Minasian and
Al-Karaghoul [9] connected a conventional basin
type still (installed in a shadow and having an
opaque cover) with a wick-type solar still so that
the hot waste brine water leaving the wick-type
feeds directly into the basin-type, with the basin
still cover cooled. The combined stills showed
higher efficiency than the two stills separately, and
the yearly amount of distilled water was 85% more
than the basin type and 43% more than the wick
type.
5. Economical breakdown: An economic
analysis of the above multi-wick solar distillation

49

H.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

Solar

/ AI
U

radialion

radiation

Soicar

~ . ~

FRP Body

distilled ~ater

i- Drainage for excess water

.....

Jute troth
Black polythe ne
I.

SllU.

~Conneoting Dipes Om flld

~.Connicflng Oipli
I x C l | S wOl Ill

I0

o~.tet

From mains

l
xCe$$

",~Gler

I - -

) Pump

Fig. 5. Double-slope multi-wick solar still [8]. Top: cross sectional view. Bottom: distillation plant layout.
plant has been presented by Tiwari and Yadav [8],
taking into account the various factors, viz. the
lifetime of the system, salvage values of the
system, interest rate and maintenance cost. The
cost breakdown of the plant is as given in Table 1.
6. Operation difficulties: Various problems
were encountered during the course of operation of
the system (4 years) as reported by Tiwari and
Yadav [8]. These problems were:

The distribution of saline water in the reservoir

of the stills was not uniform. This may arise
due to (a) the diameter of the connecting pipes
between the stills was small, leading to the
formation of air bubbles preventing the uniform
flow of saline water; and (b) the stands of the
stills were inclined, hence the solar stills could
not be placed at the same level.
Corrosion took place at the joint of galvanized

H.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

50

Table I
Cost breakdown of the multi-wick solar distillation plant
[15]
Still components

Cost in
Indian rupees

Steel and all structure

One 1000 1and three 50 1tanks
24 pcs. of glass cover (4 mm thick)
Jute cloth
Black polythene
Foam and solution
GI pipe (1", 3/4", 1/2")
PVC pipes and brass nipples
Two ball cup and GI fitting
Pump
Labor
Total cost

4,680
660
1,440
840
360
720
1,000
218
386
600
3,000
13,904

iron sheet, and MS stands in the presence of

saline water, leading to leakage in the system.
Due to non-uniform distribution of saline water
in the reservoir, the jute cloth in the stills dried
out.
The black polythene sheet and the foam of the
walls of the stills were damaged by birds; this
required a frequent change of the materials.
Since the bottom of the still was made of
galvanized iron, conduction losses occurred
from the base which reduced the output
significantly.
There was a possibility of mixing distilled
water with saline water in the tray due to
overflow in the reservoir because: (a) the slop
of the tray kept excess saline water just below
the drainage of distilled water, and (b) the
vertical walls were too small, hence there was
a small gap between the drainage and outlet for
excess water.
The purity of distilled water decreased due to
the Al sheet used for drainage.
There was a leakage of distilled water at the
lower edge of the glass cover through the

drainage due to improper sealing between the

glass cover and the drainage.
There was a significant effect on output due to
the high temperature of excess water.
A large amount of black dye was wasted when
coloring the jute cloth.
In order to solve the these problems, a new
design of a fiber-reinforced plastic stills plant of
1001/d was proposed to increase the plant life
time.

2.1.3. Diffusion stills

Basic diffusion stills and comparison with
basin stills: Fath and Elsherbiny [10] showed that
daily yield of diffusion still varies between 0.5 and
5.0 kg/m 2 under the climatic conditions of Egypt.
Based on a similar design, operational and
environmental parameters, E l s a y e d [2]
numerically compared a single-effect diffusion
still with a basin-type still and showed that the use
of the diffusion-type still leads to an improvement
in both production rate and operational efficiency.

2.1.4. Stills integrated with greenhouse

Fath [11] installed a solar still on the top of
greenhouse roof with waste heat and a mass
recovery system (WHMRS). The greenhouse still
integrated system could ventilate and reduce the
heat load on the greenhouse (particularly in hot
climates), as well as supply the greenhouse with
the fresh water requirements. The system is
claimed to be self- sufficient of energy and
irrigating water.

2.1.5. Other still configurations

Other still configurations have been presented
in the literature, including a vertical microporous
evaporator still and a cascade solar still [2].
2.2. Externally heated (active) solar stills
To enhance the evaporation rate and obtain
higher still productivity, the basin cover tempera-

1t.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

indirect system due to the chances for lower

temperature heat supply to the still and due to
more energy losses. However, such an indirect still
collector system will protect the collector from
corrosion and scale deposits caused by saline
water. Other configurations include the use of dye
and cover cooling, and other designs of solar
heaters.

ture difference must be increased. The basin

operating temperature can be increased through
additional (external) heating. A high operating
temperature range can be achieved by integrating
the still with: (1) a solar heater, (2) a solar
concentrator, or (3) a waste heat recovery system.
The solar still integrated with a heater or concentrator panel is generally referred to as an active
solar distillation system. Circulation inside the
heater or the concentrator could either be through
natural circulation (Thermosyphon) or through a
circulating device (pump). In a concentrator
heating system, possibilities of bubbles formation
and two-phase flow that can influence the
circulation should be taken into consideration.
The heat derived from the (external) collector
could either be directly supplied to the still and
increased rate of evaporation or could be indirectly
supplied to the still through a heat exchanger. The
overall system efficiency will be reduced for the

(a)

51

2.2.1. Stills coupled with a solar collector

Fig. 6a shows the integrated system proposed

by Rai and Tiwari [12]. The water is circulated
between the still and collector with the help of a
small pump. The heat derived from the collector is
directly supplied to the still and increases the rate
of evaporation of the still. The daily production is
24% higher than that of an uncoupled one. Fig. 6b
shows the concept of a naturally circulated system.
The still should be placed high enough to create
the sufficient pressure for the Thermosyphon flow.

--

8 l o c k e ned

surfoce

Insulotion

Pump

lbl 9 . ~ a r

stitt

OII~c10 p o n e |

Fig. 6. Directly heated still coupled with flat plate collector.

a: forced circulation [24]. b: natural circulation.

H.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

52

Recently Sinha et al. [ 13] evaluated a collector

assisted solar distillation system as an investment
alternative to a solar hot water system. A technoeconomic analysis was performed for both system s
in the same economic environment and
considering the same capacity. It was concluded
that the cost of energy from the distillation system
is much less than the cost of energy obtained from
the water heater, and the annual operation cost of
the solar water heater is higher than that of the
solar still because o f the higher initial investment
in the former.

2.2.2. Stills coupled with a solar concentrator

The performance of a solar still coupled with
an external heating system can be improved by
replacing the collector with a concentrator. In the
concentrator the heat loss is reduced compared to
the collector due to the smaller concentrator
surface area. In addition, the saline water temperature in the still is higher which causes the improvement in the still performance. Kumar and Sinha
[14] concluded in their study that the yield of the
concentrator-assisted solar still is much higher
than any other passive/active solar distillation
system.

2.2.3. The use o f waste heat in solar stills

One way to increase production is to utilize
waste heat (from gasoline or diesel engines) for
still water heating so as to keep it operating (at a
higher temperature) particularly during sunless
periods. The external heat source will increase tile
saline water heat capacity and therefore enhance
evaporation (see Sayigh [15] and Fath [16]).
3. Developments in multi-effect stills

3.1. Why multi effect?

The thermal efficiency of a solar distillation
unit in terms of daily production per m 2 can be
increased by the utilization o f the latent heat of

condensation. The re-utilization of latent heat in

two or more stages is generally known as a multieffect distillation system. The additional production resulting from the multi-effect stills as
compared with that from the single effect should
be justified, however, with the additional cost
incurred in the construction of the more
complicated multi-effect still. The classification of
multi-effect solar stills is very much the same as of
single-effect stills. Only the main developments in
the multi-stage stills will be presented.

3.2. Double-effect basin stills

3.2.1. Double-basins stills (Fig. 7)
Water of the second basin can either flow over
the glass cover (Fig. 7a), or be stationary (Fig. 7b).
Solar r ~ d ~ t ~

{a)

",,_
Double - bosln

Single bosln

.~

"///////////

(b)

/ / /

Ambiem oir

Fig. 7. Double-basin solar stills. (a) Schematic of singleand double-basin stills. (b) Stationary double-basin still
with flowing water over upper basis.

H.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

Sodha et al. [17] showed that double-basin type

produced about a 5 6% higher yield than the singleeffect still.
For a higher daily yield, the temperature
difference between the basin and the glass cover
should always be kept large. This can be achieved
by connecting the basin of the still to an external
heating source (solar collector, solar concentrator
or waste heat system) in addition to arranging
water flow over the glass cover. Tiwari [18]
incorporated the effect of water flow over the glass
cover and flow of hot water in the lower basin
through a flat plate collector. The author
concluded that: (a) there is no significant effect of
the flow rate of flowing water above the upper
glass cover (may be due to the low available
energy at the upper glass cover), (b) the collector
must be disconnected from the still during offsunshine hours to avoid heat losses through the
collector, and (c) the system gave about a 50%
higher yield than that of an ordinary double-basin
still.

3.2.2 Purging vapor to a second effect

Fath [ 16] proposed a second effect connected to
a single-slopped still through a shutter fashion
reflector and in its shaded zone. The second effect
acts as an additional heat and mass sink. Vapor
purged from the first effect to the second effect
relieves the first effect pressure and utilizes the
latent heat to generate additional 30 % water in the
second effect. The author showed that the productivity increases to as high as 10.7kg/m 2 for the
proposed design under the climatic conditions o f
Saudi Arabia (of 1000W/m 2 midday solar
intensity and 30-40 C ambient temperature). The
proposed unit is simple, passive and adds no
design, operation, or maintenance complexities
over the conventional single-effect basin stills.

3.3. Multi-effect multi-wick stills

In the multi-effect multi-wick type solar stills
(Fig. 8), the availability of latent heat of vaporization can be maximized and equalized for least

Sclzr rcdl~.tion

$olot' r o d i c t i o n

W o t e r flow ~

....

Fig. 8. Typical multi-effect multi-wick solar still [19].

Pipe w i t h

I
L--Droinoge ~or
excess waLet

53

Block jute cloth

Block polythene

,oo

.U

Dfclno~e for
d~stllled =oter

54

H.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

45

6 M - j , I=10 "2 k9/$

Mwj Iz~G-~ k~;/s
M w j . lllO -3 k,/.~
M.wi " IxlO *I' kQ/s

(O)

45
A Mwj. I~I0-2
13 Mw,i IxlO-4
Mwj IzlO-3
Mwj IxlO" l
0 MwJ'l'l'O-'5

/ /

kglS
k915
kgls
kgl$
k~/s

Mw]. I z h,~-SXgls

(bl
.,~

/
J

,
w

S
2

4
Number of effect

'
4

'

Number of effect

Fig. 9. Effect of water flow rate and number of effects on multi-effect multi-wick type solar still [20].
water depth in each effect including the lower
basin (multi-wick stills). The multi-effect multiwick solar stills with the first effect of least water
depth was designed by Sodha et al. [19] to achieve
the above conditions. When the water flow rate
increases significantly over the glass cover, the
flowing water does not have sufficient time to
evaporate, and thus the performance is not as good
as with a low flow rate. Different flow rates have
been studied by Singh and Tiwari [20] as shown in
Fig. 9, where the still production can be highly
increased.

acterized by intentionally added little process

chemicals. Rather, the concentrate reflects the raw
water characteristics (almost the same composition
at a more concentrated level). Solar distillation
processes do not, therefore, produce more
pollutant material or mass; they redistribute
(concentrate) that which is present in the raw
water. The other wastes produced, such as
cleaning wastes, may be mixed with the concentrate and discharged together. The waste contains
the scaling and fouling materials that are cleaned
from the system in addition to metals due to
corrosion/etching.

3.4. Other distillation systems

Other solar distillation systems have been

presented in the literature including the stacked
tray stills, multi-effect humidification-dehumidification, multi-effect diffusion stills, and water
recovery from air.
4. Environmental considerations

The major waste stream produced by the solar

distillation process--the concentrate-- is not char-

4.1. Concentrate disposal

Similar to other desalting processes, there are

several means of disposal of concentrates that are
practiced worldwide. These include [21]: surface
water discharge, disposal to front end of sewage,
treatment plants, deep-well disposal, land applications, evaporation ponds, brine concentrators,
the discharge to the effluent end of a sewage
treatment plant, and spray-drying to solids or
crystallizer (zero discharge option).

H.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

Evaporation ponds are most appropriate for a

relatively warm, dry climate, with high evaporation rates and low land cost. In the zero
discharge case, the concentrate is taken to dry
solids as a result of complete drying or further
treatment. The environmental concern is with the
disposal of the solid waste from the land-fill site
and eventually into nearby surface and underground waters. Salts recovery may be an option to
utilize and get rid of the large mass of concentrated salt components.
4.2 Environmental
methods

concerns

and

mitigating

The environmental concerns associated with

the disposal of concentrates center on the contamination of surface and ground waters, soil, and air
by the salinity level of the concentrate. Table 2
lists the particular environmental concerns for
each of the disposal options as well as a possible
mitigation method.

Table 2
Environmental concerns for disposal options and a
possible mitigation method [21]
Disposal option

Environmentalconcern

Surface water

Contamination of receiving
water
Eventual contamination
Contamination of underlying
groundwater and soil
Contamination of overlying
drinking water aquifers due
to well leakage
Contamination of underlying
higher quality aquifers due to
pond fill leakage
Contamination of underlying
higher quality aquifers due to
land-fill leakage

Sewer system
Land application
Deep-well injection

Evaporation pond

Zero discharge

55

The mitigation methods involve the following

technical and regulatory approaches:

Additional processing: treatment or blending to

remove or dilute the chemical of concern (if
any).
Changing of materials: use non-toxic additives,
non-corrosive materials to reduce or eliminate
the problem.
Reducing effluent impact on receiving water:
use of diffusers to afford an immediate dilution
factor.
Better chemical control of chlorine to reduce
residual levels or other process additives to
limit their level.
Continuous blending of cleaning wastes and
concentrate or separate disposal of cleaning
wastes and concentrates.

The awareness of the environmental consideration and the industry-regulation interface is

relatively new and is in an early stage of
development. There is a need to identify,
understand, and address environmental concerns
that are increasingly being raised, and eventually
the legislative and regulatory process. The trend
has been and will likely continue to be of both
increasing concern for and increasing regulation of
environmental impact. For negative environmental
impact, the water-producing industry needs to
recognize this trend and determine ways to
mitigate the problems.
5. Conclusions
1. Solar distillation presents a promising alternative for saline water desalination that can
partially support humanity's needs for fresh water
with free energy, simple technology and a clean
environment. Producing fresh water by solar
distillation can support community living activities, particularly in rural areas.
2. The development of solar distillation
systems has demonstrated their suitability for the

56

H.E.S. Fath / Desalination 116 (1998) 45-56

desalination process when weather conditions are

suitable and demand is not too great, i.e., less than
200m3/d.
3. Although many researchers were very much
concerned with increasing the stills' efficiency and
productivity, not much cover the economical
considerations of these development so as to
assess the ultimate cost o f product water.
4. Based on the discussion presented in this
paper, a combination of the following design and
operational parameters should be considered in
future developments in solar distillation systems:
higher basin temperature (lower water level,
use o f wick, adding black dyes, additional
external heating-collector, concentrator, waste
heat recovery, etc.)
lower cover temperature (cover cooling, multieffect, overnight with basin energy storage,
additional condenser, .etc.)
large evaporation and condensation surface
areas
re-utilization of the latent heat of condensation
(multi effect)
minimize heat losses (good side and bottom
insulation)
utilization of the shaded area (additional
condenser, combined stills, .etc.).
5. Solar distillation technology problems such
as corrosion, scale deposits and concentrate (brine)
disposal can be handled in similar way as other
conventional desalination technologies (corrosionresistant materials, continuous blow-down, adding
corrosion inhibitors and anti-scalant, frequent
cleaning, etc.).
A pilot plant should therefore be installed to
assess all these aspects vs the economical
penalties. Continuous research will ultimately lead
to a water production cost that can compete with
other technologies, in addition to the basic
advantages of solar distillation. Larger distillation
units will help the overhead costs of common and
auxiliary systems and components to have a
smaller effect on the water production cost.

References
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