Solar Desalination Plants for the Families Living in the Coastal Areas

Abstract

The main hindrance in the development of an appropriate water supply system for communities in coastal area is that deep aquifers containing sweet water are not found at all possible locations in those areas. In Bangladesh 19 out of 64 districts are in proximity to the Bay of Bengal. Although various desalination technologies are practiced all over the world, the traditional methods of desalination are energy intensive and expensive. Those techniques, if adopted, would become an extra burden for low-income families. Solar energy is free of cost and abundant in nature. The technology involved in distillation of saline water using solar energy is relatively simple and maintenance can be carried out by semi-skilled and unskilled operators. Moreover, rural communities are settled at widely spaced intervals; hence, a centrally operated treatment plant would become costly in terms of supply pipes, etc. Therefore, this study attempts to develop a family-size solar desalination plant. Plant operation was performed for four months to observe the output quality and quantity of a solar desalination unit. The study also includes the steps and cost involved in constructing the solar still. A solar desalination unit makes use of renewable energy and hence offers a green solution to the water scarcity problem. Locally available and cheap materials were used to construct the solar still. Hence, low cost and sustainability are the key points of the current study