A Portable Solar Water Purifier with Reverse Osmosis and Ultra Violet Disinfection System

Climate change, global warming and water pollution have affected the availability of safe, pure and clean water in large quantities. Due to this, a large number of people around the world do not have easy access to pure water for drinking, cooking or cleaning purposes. The problems are accelerated when floods and other environmental disasters happen that cannot be estimated earlier. Humans may use and drink untreated and unsafe water that may contain a large no. of contaminants consisting of harmful germs and chemicals. In a report by NITI Aayog (2022), it is estimated that by 2030, about 600 million people may be affected by safe, pure and clean drinking water, which is approx.40% of India's projected population by 2030. The only solution for the above scenarios is the purification of water that should be affordable, costeffective, portable and low maintenance requirement so that it can be implemented in remote and distributed communities where river, lake and brackish water is unsuitable for drinking purposes. A solar powered water purification system may be advantageous rather than conventionally sourced types that are costly and cause environmental pollution. In this research, a portable, fully solar powered water purifier is designed and developed, which is integrated with Reverse Osmosis (RO), Ultra Filtration (UF) and Ultra Violet (UV) disinfecting systems. The system design is very compact, requires small space and can be installed in remote or flood affected areas where potable water is essential to survive. The purifier is economical and requires very little maintenance cost.