Performance enhancement of a single slope solar still using wick materials: A comparative experimental investigation with energy, exergy, and economic analysis

Despite the many advantages of solar stills, the limited productivity poses a serious challenge. This motivates scholars to find solutions to reduce this obstacle using different enhancement techniques. From this standpoint, this study aims to enhance the productivity of a single slope solar still (4S) using three different wick materials, tested for the first time together under the same conditions: sponge, jute cloth and luffa fiber. To achieve this aim, two identical 4Ss were manufactured from locally available materials, one conventional (without wick) and the other modified (with wick). All tests were conducted in outdoor conditions of Baghdad city and on sunny days, mostly in April. According to the analysis of productivity, energy, exergy, and economic, it was found that the best performance of 4S was with the use of jute cloth wick. Compared to conventional 4S, productivity was enhanced by 5.07 %, 21.08 % and 17.09 %, energy efficiency was enhanced by 4.77 %, 22.06 % and 20.53 %, exergy efficiency was enhanced by 17.30 %, 25.00 % and 22.54 %, and overall gain of the 4S was enhanced by 6.00, 23.49 and 15.54 % with sponge, jute cloth and luffa fiber respectively.