Perpustakaan Digital ITB

Water desalination technologies is one of the solutions in fighting water shortage problem. There are several water desalination technologies such as multi-stage flash and reverse osmosis. However, most of these technologies require modern infrastructure and high energy supply. On the other hand, solar still distillates water using solar thermal energy and is suitable for applications in remote areas with no infrastructure. Previously, researchers have developed floating solar still with an improved thermal efficiency by localizing heat for evaporation at an absorber surface. This work investigates the applicability of a salt-rejecting floating solar still made with low-cost materials locally sourced from Indonesia by building and testing a prototype. The prototype consists of an evaporator (a floating structure where evaporation occurs) and a cover. Several experiments were done to assess the performance of the prototype, namely the temperature distribution of the evaporator, the distilled water production, and the collection efficiency. Furthermore, the experiments were done in two conditions: with artificial lighting and with actual sunlight. Wicking capability of towel is also tested. The wicking test revealed that towel shows a wicking rate that is sufficient for the floating solar still application. On the other hand, the experiments showed that absorber surface could reach temperatures that are significantly higher than the temperature of the bulk water beneath the evaporator. The experiment also showed that a higher absorber surface temperature is achieved when the cover is put in use due to isolation of heat. Furthermore, higher irradiation received by the solar still translates to a higher mass of distilled water that can be collected. Nevertheless, further works need to be done to improve the collection efficiency.