Design, Fabrication and Optimization of an Inclined Continuous Flow Solar Water Distillation System to Treat Contaminated Spring Water.

The rapid growth of Uganda’s population over the past two decades has placed significant strain on the current national water supply service. While some communities in Uganda use the main NWSC water supply, umbrella authorities, NGOs and other private sector organizations as their main water source, other residents depend mainly on groundwater springs to access clean water. However, due to factors like inadequate spring protection and poor solid waste management, some of these springs have become contaminated with physico-chemical and microbiological pollutants. This research project focused on utilising solar water distillation as an alternative method for treating contaminated spring water in Masajja Village, Makindye Ssabagabo County, Wakiso, Uganda. A continuous flow, inclined solar water distillation system was designed and modelled using SolidWorks software, and fabricated using heat-strengthened glass, hardwood timber and mild steel as the main materials. The major methods used for fabrication were gas metal arc welding, and metal, wood, and glass panel cutting. The performance of the solar distiller was then analyzed by measuring hourly and daily distillate productivity, determination of optimum input flow rate, determination of performance efficiency, and physiochemical characterization of both the raw feed water and the distillate. From the experiments performed, it was concluded that the solar distiller has production efficiency of 36.88% and productivity of 4.71 litres/m², which can be sufficiently scaled up to meet domestic water needs. The solar distiller temperature and inlet flow rate also have a direct influence on the productivity of the solar distiller, with high distillate volumes being observed at higher temperatures (75.5°C) and moderate flow rates (437ml/min).