EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE FOR BASIN WITH BLACK SOIL AND SEA SAND LAYER IN PRODUCING POTABLE WATER

The rapid growth in industry has greatly increased the demand for fresh or clear water in Malaysia. Water is important and very essential in life. Inadequate of clear water supplied is a big issue that must be taken seriously. Therefore, water conservation must not be an option anymore. However, as the practical alternative, solar distillation can provide a solution for the areas where the solar energy is available. Solar distillation is the simple way for obtain drinking water or distilling water which sunlight as the main energy that used to power that process. Solar distillation is environmentally safe and uses solar radiation to evaporate lake water into potable water. The main objective of this project is to identify the best material for acting as the heat storage of the system in order to help to increase the evaporation rate in the solar still system for producing potable water. Thus, solar still farm can be built with economically solar still system installed. Method involved using three solar still with different materials used in the basins – with black soil, sea sand layer and conventional to compare the absorption or capture solar with water production. Water collected is then tested at the lab in order to ensure the water is safe to be drink. The present investigation showed the black soil basin has productivity up to 1953.33 ml/mᵌ/d which is much higher than conventional stainless steel basin, 893.33 ml/mᵌ/d and 1746.67 ml/mᵌ/d for sea sand layer basin. Solar still water production under Malaysia conditions has potential to grow as even during the cloudy weather, solar still can also produce high production.