Performance study of a modified basin type solar still

•A modified basin type solar still is investigated experimentally and theoretically.•The modified basin type solar still performed better than the conventional one.•Mathematical model of the modified solar still is developed and validated against experimental results.•Extensive performance study of the modified solar still is presented. A modified basin type solar still equipped with an air-cooled condenser is constructed and tested. The system is operated at reduced pressure in batch-wise mode. Better measured performance of the modified still is obtained compared with that of the conventional one. On the other hand, the system is simulated using a mathematical model and solved numerically using a computer program written in MATLAB code. The developed model is validated against experimental measurements. The parametric study using the validated model is carried out to explore the improvement potentials of the constructed system.