Experimental investigation of a solar still using kitchen wastewater

Abstract

This study explores the enhancement of potable water newlineproduction from various wastewater samples using a combination of sand newlinebed filtration and solar still desalination. Historically, solar stills have been newlineemployed for water purification due to their simplicity and effectiveness, newlinewhereas traditional wastewater treatment methods are often costly and newlineconsume more energy. By integrating wastewater treatment with solar still newlinetechnology, a more sustainable and efficient approach for water purification newlinecan be achieved. newlineThe performance of different wastewater samples, kitchen newlinewastewater (KW), borewell water (BW), reverse osmosis wastewater newline(ROW), and sewage wastewater (SW) are evaluated at varying depths and newlinetheir physicochemical properties are assessed before and after desalination newlineagainst IS 10500:2012 standards. This analysis includes correlations between newlineTotal Dissolved Solids (TDS) and other physicochemical parameters, newlineforming regression equations tested using the R language. newline Key findings from this study indicate significant improvements newlinein water quality due to sand bed filtration, with reductions of 48% in newlineturbidity, 7% in TDS, 15% in electrical conductivity (E.C), 28% in pH, 93% newlinein alkalinity, 89% in hardness, 12.5% in phosphate, and 7% in both BOD and newlineCOD. The efficiency of the solar stills is better for pre-treated wastewater, newlinewith maximum efficiencies of 48% for BW, 40% for SBKW, and 36% for newlineKWW at a depth of 1 cm. Maximum daily freshwater productivity is newlinerecorded at 1.82 L/day for BW, 1.63 L/day for SBKW, and 1.48 L/day for newlineKWW. newline newline