Performance enhancement of a solar still using cotton regenerative medium

This paper presents the performance of a single slope solar still using cotton cloth regenerative medium. The performance was evaluated under the metrological conditions of Chennai city in India during the summer months of 2016. Two single-slope solar stills are fabricated with an effective area of 0.5 m2 with various thicknesses (2, 4, 6, and 8 mm) of cotton cloth were used for the performance comparison. The results showed, the solar still with 6 mm thick cotton assisted regenerative solar still has about 28% improved productivity when compared to conventional solar still.