Evaluation of basin and insulating materials in solar still prototype for solar distillation plant at Kamusuchiwo community, High Guajira

Abstract

Solar distillation is a technology suitable for producing distilled water in remote areas of civilization. Within the project of drinking water plant using solar distillation in Kamusuchiwo community, underlying this research that wants to determine the best combination of absorbent materials and insulators. There were assessed two types of insulators and two types of basin materials, this in order to improve the efficiency of the distillation and applying to the plant to will be constructed. The results were satisfactory, reveal that water production dependent of the basin and water temperatures until noon when the sun is at the zenith, then at the afternoon, water production depends of distiller's internal heat. The efficiency was considerable when you consider factors such as cloud cover and wind that decrease the production of water, these variables limit the optimal functioning of the distiller. The applied experimental design allowed us to determine that the best material to use in basin is aluminum and the best material insulating was sawdust, combination of these materials will be use in water solar plant.