Improving the performance of a pyramid solar still using different wicmaterials and reflectors in Iraq

As well-known, many rural communities suffer from water shortage in Iraq. Since there is an abun-dance of solar energy in these societies, it is preferable for them to use the solar desalination methods to overcome this problem. Solar still is one of these methods, but it suffers from the low produc-tivity. In this paper, the performance of the pyramid solar still was investigated when using various types of wick materials to increase its productivity. So, two pyramid solar stills were fabricated and tested under the same environmental conditions: one is a conventional pyramid distiller (CPSS), and the other is a wick-type modified pyramid solar still (WPSS). The WPSS was investigated when using different wick materials such as light cotton cloth, heavy cotton cloth, jute fabric, and velvet fabric. Experimental results revealed that the light cotton fabric provided the best productivity of WPSS as compared to the other wick materials. The maximum efficiency and productivity of WPSS were obtained when using light cotton wick, where they were 55.3% and 1,476 mL/m^2·d, respectively. Using the light cotton wick improved the WPSS productivity by 11%, 24.2%, 76.7%, and 136.6% compared to that of WPSS with heavy cotton, jute fabric, velvet fabric, and CPSS, respectively.