Desalination 216 (2007) 232–241 Solar stills integrated with a mini solar pond — analytical simulation and experimental validation V. Velmurugan a , K. Srithar b* a Department of Mechanical Engineering, PET Engineering College, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India 627 117 b Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India 625 015 Tel. +91(45) 2248-2240; Fax: +91 (45) 2248-3427; email: ponsathya@hotmail.com Received 30 August 2006; Accepted 31 December 2006 Abstract Comparison between theoretical and experimental analysis of a mini solar pond assisted solar still is presented in this paper. In a mini solar pond, experiments were conducted for different salinity. It was found that the optimum value of salinity in the mini solar pond is 80 g/kg of water. Effect of sponge cubes in the still, effect of integrating mini solar pond with the still and combination of both are discussed. The average daily production of solar still is found to be increased considerably, when it is integrated with a mini solar pond. Theoretical analyses were made using conservation of energy and the results obtained give very good agreement with the experiments. Keywords: Solar still; Mini solar pond; Distilled water productivity; Sponge 1. Introduction Water is important to life. Man has been dependent on rivers, lakes, and underground water for his requirements. About 97% of the earth water is salty and only 3% of earth water is potable. Due to increase in population and rapid industrial growth, the consumption of fresh water is increasing day by day. With water scarcity problem, men and animals are suffering a lot. *Corresponding author. Apart from this, water pollution is also a major problem for water scarcity. Desalination is the best solution for the above said problem. In existing desalination method, for mass production, fossil fuels are used. But avail- ability of fossil fuels in the world is very limited. A solar still is widely used in solar desalination process to produce potable water. Such kind of system is suitable for low productions and particularly applicable in rural areas. It consists of an airtight basin of rectangular shape, made from galvanized iron (zinc coated iron to prevent 0011-9164/07/$– See front matter © 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2006.12.012