ECONOMICS OF A HIGH PERFORMANCE SOLAR DISTILLED WATER PLANT

Pankaj K Srivastava, Abhay Agrawal

Abstract: In this paper, economic analysis of a high performance solar energy operated distilled water plant is presented. The monthly and the annual productivity of the high performance plant is compared with that of a conventional basin type solar still of equal size and material. The cost of the distilled water produced is determined by uniform cost analysis method. The analysis revealed that the production cost of the distilled water produced per litre by the high performance plant is Rs.5.07, whereas that for the conventional still is Rs.7.90 when the market cost is Rs.20.00. The high performance solar distilled water plant can be a very economical, cost effective, minimum maintenance and the zero energy cost option. Moreover, there is no pollution involved

Keywords: Distilled water, solar still, porous absorber, economic analysis and high performance.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2014.0302050