Achieving better thermo-enviro-economic performances of modified cords pyramid distiller with various arrangements of baffles, reflectors, and vapor extraction

The shortage of safe drinking water is among the issues that the globe is experiencing more and more. One of the best options for remote locations lacking in civilian infrastructure is solar stills. The primary goal of the current study was to determine how using different designs of longitudinal and square baffles in the basin of the cords pyramid solar still (CPSS) affects its performance with and without silver nanoparticles. In addition, raising the levels of evaporation and condensation was achieved by introducing reflectors and vapor extraction with CPSS. Also, the thermo-enviro-economic analyses were tested to obtain the profitability of the proposed system. The results reported that the distillation of CPSS with lined baffles (CPSS-LB) and PSS was 9150 and 3500 mL m⁻² day, correspondingly, with improvement of 162%. Moreover, the distillation of CPSS with square baffles (CPSS-SB) was 193% greater than PSS, with the aggregated distillation of CPSS-SB and PSS being 9800 and 3350 mL m⁻² day, accordingly. Also, utilizing reflectors with CPSS-SB increased the output over the PSS by almost 233% (3600 mL m⁻² day for PSS versus 12,000 mL m⁻² day for CPSS-SB), while the fan and reflectors increased production of CPSS by roughly 257% (3550 mL m⁻² day for PSS and 12,650 mL m⁻² day for CPSS with fan and reflectors). Besides, the CPSS-SB with Ag increased productivity over PSS by 274% (3200 mL m⁻² day for PSS vs 11,970 mL m⁻² day for CPSS-SB with Ag). Moreover, with the use of Ag nanoparticles, the productivity increase of CPSS with reflectors and fan was 274%, with a thermal efficiency of approximately 68.8% at 25 cords, while with 35 cords, with the use of Ag nanoparticles, the productivity increase of CPSS with reflectors and fan was 282% (3100 mL m⁻² day for PSS and 11,850 mL m⁻² day for CPSS), with a thermal efficiency of approximately 70%. For PSS and CPSS-SB-Ag, the reported expenses of the treated water were 0.0141 and 0.01 $L⁻¹, correspondingly. The environmental parameter of CPSS-SB-Ag was annual CO₂ emissions of 28.7 tons. Additionally, the enviroeconomic parameter (Z′) for CPSS and CPSS-SB-Ag was 370 and 420 per year for 340 operating days and two decades, respectively.