Process Safety and Environmental Protection 154 (2021) 142–154

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Process Safety and Environmental Protection

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psep

Performance evaluation of single slope solar still with novel

pond fibres
Subbarama Kousik Suraparaju a , Ragupathy Dhanusuraman b , Sendhil Kumar Natarajan a,∗

a
Solar Energy Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Karaikal, UT of Puducherry, 609609, India
b
Nano Electrochemistry Lab (NEL), Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Karaikal, UT of Puducherry, 609609, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The low efficiency of solar still is one of the most critical barriers to its effective utilization across the
Received 15 May 2021 globe. The efficiency of solar still is being increased by using various energy storage materials, porous
Received in revised form 17 July 2021 materials and other surface area enhancers. In this paper, an attempt has been made to enhance the
Accepted 9 August 2021
freshwater productivity from the single slope solar still by using naturally available dried pond fibres.
Available online 12 August 2021
The dried pond fibres with better porosity have been floated over the seawater in the absorber bain for
increasing the surface area of evaporation. The number of fibres to be floated is mainly chosen based
Keywords:
on the percentage area of occupancy in the absorber bain. The effect of the number of pond fibres (3,
Solar still
Pond fibres
4, 5, 6, 10, 15, and 20 numbers) floated in the absorber basin on the yield of solar still is investigated.
Productivity enhancement The solar still with five number of dried pond fibres enhanced the freshwater productivity by 29.67 %. In
Economic analysis contrast, the 3, 4, 6, 10, 15 and 20 number of dried pond fibres increases productivity by 10.57 %, 25.97
Augmenting evaporation %, 26.81 %, 23.83 %, 4.43 % and 3.63 % respectively relative to the conventional solar still. The outcomes of
Optimization the economic analysis reported that the cost per litre of freshwater produced under solar still with pond
fibres is lower than the conventional solar still by 30.76 %. Also, the payback period of solar still with
pond fibres and conventional solar are found to be 91 days and 115 days. However, the initial investment
cost remains the same for both systems, as dried pond fibre is naturally available and the cost of fibre
processing is minimal.
© 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction sumption patterns by the people. It is reported that half of the

Water is the primary prerequisite for all living beings on Earth.
Almost 70 % of the Earth’s surface is occupied by water. In that 70
% of water, 97 % of the water is from seas, oceans and other water
bodies. This 97 % of water is not useful for human consumption as
they are entirely saltwater. The remaining 3% pure water on the
Earth is the only choice for almost 7.5 billion people in the world.
The day-to-day increases in the population of the world and rapid
advancement in industrialization lead to a water crisis by deplet-
ing the available freshwater resources. As per the United Nations
water reports 2019, the consumption of water was steadily increas-
ing by 1% all over the world since the 1980s due to rapid population
growth, socio-economic development and change in water con-
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: s.s.r.kousik@hotmail.com (S.K. Suraparaju),
ragu@nitpy.ac.in (R. Dhanusuraman), sendhil6 1980@rediffmail.com,
drsendhil1980iitmuk@gmail.com (S.K. Natarajan).
world population will be living in water-stressed areas by 2050.
Also, from the United Nations Water Reports 2020, that the cli-
mate of the Earth is changing and will change continuously because
of the several factors and climate change will affect the coun-
tries water availability. Thus, the changes in the climate will alter
the accessibility, quality and quantity of water for general human
requirements for billions of people. The disturbance in the water
cycle will lead to potential risks for human health, food security,
energy production, economic development and poverty reduction
which seriously obstruct the path of achieving sustainable devel-
opment (Leaving no one behind : The United Nations World Water
Development Report, 2019; Water and Climate Change: The United
Nations World Water Development Report, 2020). In this regard,
the only way to overcome the present and future water crisis is
by adopting the seawater desalination approach. There are many
desalination approaches such as thermal desalination, ultraviolet
irradiation technology, membrane desalination and flocculation
deposition. However, most of the desalination approaches require
energy for their operation (Belessiotis et al., 2010; Ding et al., 2020;

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2021.08.011
0957-5820/© 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
S.K. Suraparaju et al. Process Safety and Environmental Protection 154 (2021) 142–154

viable and sustainable solution to meet the current energy and

Nomenclature water demands.
Abbreviations
1.1. Solar thermal collectors
A.Y Annual Yield
CSSSDS Conventional Single Slope Solar Desalination Sys-
Among various renewable energy sources, solar energy is the
tem
most suitable choice for desalination systems because of the
CPL Cost per litre
prodigious advantage of solar thermal collectors relative to other
C.F Capital recovery factor
renewable energy systems. The solar thermal systems are the most
F.C First Annual cost
advantageous collectors for converting solar energy into useful heat
F.F Sinking fund factor
and electricity. In this regard, (Natarajan et al., 2019a) analysed the
i Interest rate
solar PV integrated Fuel cell for better performance. (Goswami and
ls Lifetime of solar still
Das, 2020; Suraparaju et al., 2019) emphasized the usage of ther-
M.C Annual maintenance cost
moelectric generators with solar collectors for cogeneration of heat
P Principal investment
and electricity. (Natarajan et al., 2019c) numerically investigated
PBP Payback period
the solar parabolic dish concentrator system with and without a
pH Potential of Hydrogen
flat receiver system to optimize the performance of the system.
S Salvage value
(Natarajan et al., 2019b) designed and developed the floating solar
S.F Annual Savage Factor
photovoltaic system for better performance of PV systems. Besides
SSSDS-PF Single Slope Solar Desalination System with Pond
these, few types of research were reported on solar thermal sys-
Fibres
tem optimization for better performance. The optimization studies
T.C Total Annual Cost
of solar thermal collectors made the systems more sustainable in
TDS Total Dissolved Salts
terms of efficiency and productivity. In this regard, (Verma and
Das, 2019a, 2019b) optimized the wall profile of the solar pond to
Units
enhance the efficiency with reference to a given volume of water
ml millilitre
and top area. Also, the authors introduced the concept of triple heat
mm millimetre
exchangers in the solar pond for better performance. (Das et al.,
cm centimetre
2017; Panda et al., 2014; Verma et al., 2019) optimized the solar
m metre
◦C thermal collectors using several optimization techniques such as
degree Celsius
inverse heat transfer analysis for better performance of the solar
N Newton
system. (Kumar et al., 2020) optimized the geometry of the two-
Other Abbreviations zone solar pond using Eigenfunctions and genetic algorithm for
mw Mass of potable water yield enhancing the performance of the system. Thus, an optimized solar
Lw Latent heat of vaporisation of water collector can perform better than a non-optimized solar collector.
A Area of the absorber basin Based on the above discussion, it can be concluded that solar energy
I Global solar radiation is the most suitable choice for desalination systems because of the
I(t) Radiation at a particular time advantages of solar thermal collectors.
L Length of fibre
b Breadth of fibre 1.2. Solar stills
t Thickness of fibre
u␩ Uncertainty of the efficiency The integration of solar energy with desalination systems is
udw Uncertainty in instantaneous productivity the perfect choice to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels for
uy The uncertainty of yield energy production. The solar-powered desalination systems not
di, df Initial and final hourly yield only reduce fossil fuel consumption but also the water scarcity in
hcr Liquid height in the capillary rural areas where there is no proper electrification. Among various
T Surface tension solar thermal desalination systems, the solar still is recognized as
r Bore radius of the capillary the most economical and flexible approach for seawater desalina-
g Gravity tion when compared to other desalination techniques (Diaf et al.,
z.Theta; Angle of contact 2016; Gude et al., 2011, 2010; Kasaeian et al., 2020; Li et al.,
h Heat transfer coefficient 2013; Qiblawey and Banat, 2008; Sharon and Reddy, 2015; Shatat
q Heat transfer rate of solar radiation et al., 2013; Thirugnanasambandam et al., 2010; Xevgenos et al.,
T The temperature difference between fibre absorber 2016). Solar still is a simple structure in design to fabricate, eco-
and glass cover friendly, easy to work and it is also economical such that it can be
Vp Pore volume quickly adopted by anyone where pure water is scarce. However,
Vbk Bulk volume the efficiency of solar still is comparatively less. A lot of research is
Ww Weight of water in pore space happening across the world for efficiency improvement of a solar
Wsat Saturated weight still by changing its design such as single slope, double slope, single
Wdry Dry weight effect, multi-effect, single basin, double basin, stepped still, square
w Density of water solar stills, pyramid stills, tubular stills, hemispherical stills etc.
Also, the absorber basin of the still is being continuously modi-
fied for better evaporation rate such as corrugated, V – corrugated,
incorporation of fins, wick materials and absorber coatings etc. The
addition of energy storage materials such as paraffin wax, stones,
Ghaffour et al., 2013; Maria Antony Raj et al., 2016; Miller et al., jute clothes, cotton hung pads and nano-based energy storage
2015; Shannon et al., 2008; Subramani and Jacangelo, 2015). In materials into the solar stills also under research for improve-
this aspect, renewable energy-driven desalination systems are the ment in the solar still efficiency (Aybar and Assefi, 2009; Ayoub

143
S.K. Suraparaju et al.
and Malaeb, 2012; Kabeel et al., 2019b, 2017; Muthu Manokar
et al., 2014; Panchal et al., 2019; Patel and Modi, 2020; Prakash
and Velmurugan, 2015; Selvaraj and Natarajan, 2018; Xiao et al.,
2013).
In this aspect of research, (Singh and Tiwari, 2004) examined
the performance of solar stills during different months of the year
in the Indian climate and reported that the inclination of the glass
should be equal to the latitude of the testing location. (Abdallah
et al., 2009) investigated the effect of coated and uncoated wiry
sponges made from steel along with black volcanic rocks as energy
storage material on the productivity of solar still. The outcomes of
the study stated that there was an enhancement in yield by 28 %
and 43 % with coated and uncoated wiry sponges, respectively. But
the corrosion of metallic sponges was noticed as a problem in this
system. The black volcanic rocks in the solar still as energy storage
gave better results by increasing productivity by 60 %. (Sakthivel
et al., 2010) investigated the effect of jute cloth on the yield of a
solar still, and the results proved that the incorporation of jute cloth
enhances yield by 12 %. (Murugavel et al., 2010) investigated the
effect of different materials on the productivity of the solar still and
found that the ¾ inch quartzite rock showed better enhancement
in productivity when compared with others. (Kalidasa Murugavel
and Srithar, 2011) studied the influence of light cotton cloth, sponge
sheet, coir mate and waste cotton pieces on the yield of solar still
and light cotton cloth was found to be the useful wick material for
better yield. (Mahdi et al., 2011) developed the wick type of solar
still for indoor and outdoor investigations. The outcomes of the
study proved that outdoor testing was better than indoor testing
and charcoal cloth was suitable for evaporation in the solar still.
(Manikandan et al., 2014) analysed the floating and tilted wick-
type solar still and found that the energy efficiency of still was about
39.39 % and exergy efficiency was 22.52 %. (Srivastava and Agrawal,
2013a) investigated the effect of the low thermal inertia floating
porous absorbers on the yield of solar still and the outcomes of the
results stated that there was an output increase by 68 % and 35 %
on a clear day and partly clear day respectively.
(Agboola et al., 2015) analysed the economic feasibility of the
basin solar stills and reported that the single basin and double basin
solar stills were economically feasible. (Hansen et al., 2015) studied
the effect of various wick materials such as Wood pulp paper wick,
wicking water coral fleece fabric and polystyrene sponge on the
productivity of solar stills with different designs. They found that
the solar still with coral fleece and weir mesh–stepped absorber
plate had a higher yield when compared to others. (Srivastava and
Agrawal, 2013b) studied the effect of porous fins based on black-
ened old cotton rags on the single slope solar still performance. It
was found that there was a 56 % increased daytime yield and a 48
% increase in the yield for the 24 -h duration during February when
compared to conventional solar still. In May, a 23 % increase in
daytime yield and 15 % higher for 24 h. (Shalaby et al., 2016) exper-
imentally investigated the effect of V-corrugated absorber and wick
materials with integrated phase change material (PCM) on the per-
formance of the single-slope solar still. It was found that the solar
still with V-corrugated absorber basin with wick material and with
and without integrated PCM improved the productivity by 11.7 %
when compared to other V-corrugated solar stills. (Harris Samuel
et al., 2016) analysed the influence of energy storage materials such
as spherical balls, sponge materials on the productivity of the solar
still. It was stated that the solar still with spherical ball storage
attained a maximum yield of 3.7 kg/m2 when compared to solar
stills with sponge material and without energy storage material.
(Alaian et al., 2016) studied the effect of with and without pin
finned wick to enhance the evaporation on the performance of the
single-slope solar still. It was found that the modified solar still with
pin finned wick basin achieved a 23 % enhancement in productivity
compared to solar still without a wick. (Kalita et al., 2017) per-
144
Process Safety and Environmental Protection 154 (2021) 142–154
formed four different experiments (double step single basin, lined
jute wick absorber plate, four steps with charcoal lined jute wick
absorber plate, double glass cover used solar still with four steps
jute wick lined absorber plate) to investigate the performance of
the solar still. It was reported that the highest yield of 117.32 % was
found in the solar still of double glass cover with four steps jute
wick lined absorber plate compared to the first stage of the experi-
ment. (Panchal and Sathyamurthy, 2020) experimentally analysed
the performance of single slope solar still with and without porous
fins basin. It was mentioned that the porous fin basin obtained a
42.3 % increase in production compared to the conventional still.
(Lalitha Narayana and Ramachandra Raju, 2019) investigated the
effect of the cubical and tetrahedral sponges-based basin on the
productivity of solar still to increase the evaporation rate. It was
observed that there was an increase in yield to 219 % with tetra-
hedral sponge pieces and a 172 % increase with cubical sponges
when compared to conventional solar still. (Haddad et al., 2017)
conducted the experiments to evaluate the contribution of vertical
rotating wick on the performance of single slope solar still. It was
found that the inclusion of vertical rotating wick enhanced the per-
formance to a 14.72 % increase in summer and a 51.1 % increase in
winter when compared to the performance of the conventional still
without a vertical rotating wick. (Issa and Chang, 2017) analysed
the thermo-economic performance of the solar still coupled with
evacuated tube collector and found that the solar still with evacu-
ated collector had an increase of distillate by a factor of 2.63. Also,
found that the modified solar still was economically feasible.
(Agrawal et al., 2018) investigated the effect of jute cloth on the
productivity of the single-slope solar still. There was an increase in
the distillate output to 62 % compared to conventional still. (Kabeel
et al., 2018) analysed the influence of jute cloth knitted with sand
heat energy storage on the solar still productivity. For a water mass
of 20 kg, the yield was observed as 5.0 kg/m2 in the convectional
still and 5.9 kg/m2 in the basin of jute cloth knitted with sand heat
energy storage. (Kaviti et al., 2019) investigated the effect of the
opaque north wall on the double slope solar desalination system
and found that the opaque still had an increase of productivity by
15 %, 14 % and 15 % with 1 cm, 2 cm and 3 cm water depth when
compared to the conventional system.
(Yousef and Hassan, 2019) experimentally analysed the perfor-
mance of six passive solar stills of different basin configurations
on productivity. The six basin configurations considered in their
study were based on the combination of phase change material,
pin fins and steel wool fibres. It was found that the solar still basin
with steel wool fibres gave a better performance in terms of pro-
ductivity, freshwater cost and eco-friendly. (Mande and Manickam,
2019) analysed the performance of a single transparent wall with
natural porous material coco peat and charcoal and multiple trans-
parent walls and found the single transparent wall achieved 44
% higher productivity than the conventional system. (Arunkumar
et al., 2019) investigated the effect of polyvinyl alcohol sponges
and copper oxide nano-coated absorber plate on the productivity
of single slope solar still. The results of conventional single slope
solar still, solar still with copper oxide nano-coated absorber plate,
solar still with polyvinyl alcohol sponges, and solar still with copper
oxide nano-coated absorber plate and polyvinyl alcohol sponges
were compared with 0.5 m2 collector area. It was found that the
highest efficiency of the solar still with copper oxide nano-coated
absorber plate was found to be 53 % compared to other modified
basins. (Mu et al., 2019) investigated the effect of the Fresnel lens
performance of a single-basin single-slope solar still and found that
there was an improvement of 84.7 % in the efficiency of the solar still
with Fresnel lens when compared to the efficiency of the conven-
tional system. (Kabeel et al., 2019a) analysed the effect of composite
material as heat storage in solar still and the results found that the
solar still with composite material had an increase in the energy
S.K. Suraparaju et al.
efficiency of 38 % than the solar still without phase change material.
Also, the cost per litre of water produced by solar still with compos-
ite material was 27 % less than the other solar still. (Sharshir et al.,
2020d) studied the effect of wick metal chips pad on the yield of
solar still and it was found that the solar still with copper basin and
wick- copper chips led to the higher thermal efficiency of 60.98 %
over all the other considered solar stills. (Sahoo and Subudhi, 2019)
analysed the effect of jute cloth, internal reflectors and modified
inclination angle of glass on the solar still and it was observed that
there was an increase of 72.18 % in performance when compared
to the conventional solar still.
(Modi and Modi, 2019) evaluated the performance of a single
slope double basin (upper and lower basin) solar still with a small
pile of jute cloth and blackened cotton cloth. It was reported that
solar still with a pile of jute cloth achieved higher enhancement
in the efficiency of 18.03 % and 21.46 % for the water depth of 1
cm and 2 cm compared to the pile of solar still of blackened cot-
ton cloth. (Suraparaju and Natarajan, 2020) analysed the impact
of luffa fibres on the productivity of single slope solar still. It was
noticed that the productivity of the solar still was reduced due to
more fibres in the absorber basin which obstructed the solar radi-
ation and also absorbed more seawater from the basin. (Essa et al.,
2020) proposed a coffee-based colloid as an alternative to conven-
tional nanofluid for improvement of the distillate of solar still. It
was found that freshwater productivity was 35.14 % higher than the
traditional solar still. (Zanganeh et al., 2020) investigated the effect
of silicone nano-coated condensation surfaces on the productiv-
ity of solar still and found that the dropwise condensation yielded
better than the film condensation. (Dubey and Mishra, 2020) stud-
ied the effect of ferrite rings magnets and black cotton cloth, and
there was an increase of 60.24 % in distillate when compared to
conventional still. (Sharshir et al., 2020e) investigated the effect
of heat localization materials based on hybrid structure, such as
exfoliated graphite flakes with wick, carbon foam with wick and
exfoliated graphite flakes with wick and carbon foam on the solar
still. It was found that yield of solar still with exfoliated graphite
flakes with the wick was increased 51.8 % higher than the conven-
tional still. (Sharshir et al., 2020b) investigated the effect of solar
still based linen wicks and carbon black nanoparticles on the per-
formance. This effect resulted in an increase in efficiency by 110.5
% when compared to conventional still. (Baskaran and Saravanane,
2021) investigated the influence of Spirulina Algae on the yield of
solar still. It was observed that the productivity of solar still with
Spirulina Algae was increased by 30.24 % when compared to CSS.
1.3. The novelty of current research
Based on the above literature review, it can be summa-
rized that the augmentation of evaporation of seawater from the
absorber basin of the solar still is being obtained by incorporat-
ing porous materials such as jute or cotton wick materials. Also,
a few research works enhanced the evaporation rate by integrat-
ing finned absorber basins and energy storage materials such as
PCMs/sensible heat storage materials. It is observed that there are
limited works in the optimization of parameters of the solar still. It
is also found that there is no particular literature that utilizing the
porous algal/pond fibres in the absorber basin for enhancing the
evaporation of seawater. In this aspect, an effort has been made
to study the influence of dried pond fibres with porous structures
on the enhancement of productivity in single slope solar still. The
main intention of incorporating pond fibres into the solar still is to
enhance the evaporation rate, which further increases the freshwa-
ter yield. Also, the current research investigated the incorporation
of the possible number of dried pond fibres which occupies opti-
mum space in the absorber basin of the solar still for enhancing
the freshwater yield. The number of fibres in the absorber basin
145
Process Safety and Environmental Protection 154 (2021) 142–154
was chosen according to the percentage of space occupancy in the
absorber basin of solar still. The experiments were conducted with
3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 15 and 20 numbers of dried pond fibres in the absorber
basin of solar still. In order to compare the results with conven-
tional solar still, two single slope solar stills were designed and
developed to estimate the effect of naturally available pond fibres
on the enhancement of productivity in solar stills. In context, this
study is propounded to analyse the influence of novel pond fibres
for enhancing the productivity of solar still. Section 2 provides
deep insight into the materials utilized and the experimentation
with uncertainty analysis. Section 3 presents the thermal and eco-
nomic analysis associated with this research. Section 4 highlights
the results with proper discussion and the water quality studies
are presented in section 5. The conclusions of the current study are
drawn in Section 6.
1.4. Practical relevance of current study
The single slope solar still is the economic way of seawater
desalination and it is the most utilized seawater desalination device
in the rural areas for freshwater production. Also, solar still is asso-
ciated with less maintenance and it doesn’t need highly skilled
personnel for the operation. But the only concern is less productiv-
ity and thus lesser efficiency. In this regard, the naturally available
porous pond fibres are incorporated in the single slope solar still to
enhance the freshwater yield with minimal investment. The dried
pond fibres are easily available in the ponds during the summer sea-
son. These fibres can be collected for desalination purposes without
any extra costs. Thus, the efficiency of single slope solar still can be
effectively enhanced by using the dried pond fibres which makes
the system more sustainable and viable without polluting the envi-
ronment.
2. Experimental system and experimentation
In this section, the detailed description of single slope solar still
and its construction is discussed. The properties of pond fibre are
detailed in this section. Also, the experimental procedure with error
analysis is elucidated in this section. The experiments are carried
out at the NIT Puducherry (10.92 ◦ N,79.83 ◦ E), Karaikal, India during
April 2020
2.1. System description
In this study, two identical single slope solar stills were designed
and developed for estimating the effect of naturally available dried
pond fibres on the enhancement of evaporation rate led to augment
the productivity of the desalination system. The two desalination
systems developed for experimentation is as follows:
(a) Conventional Single Slope Solar Desalination System (CSSSDS)
(b) Single Slope Solar Desalination System with Pond Fibres
(SSSDS-PF)
2.2. Materials and fabrication
The two single slope solar desalination systems were primarily
made of waterproof plywood for better durability and resistance
towards moisture. The inner portion of the desalination system was
covered with an aluminium sheet of 2 mm thickness to reduce the
direct contact of plywood with moisture inside the system which
minimizes the lifetime of the system. Also, the covered aluminium
sheet was coated with black paint such that it absorbs more radi-
ation and keeps the desalination system at a specific temperature
without heat losses. The absorber basin inside the system was made
S.K. Suraparaju et al. Process Safety and Environmental Protection 154 (2021) 142–154

Karaikal, India in an irregular shape. These fibres were continuously

exposed to hot and cold climatic weather conditions of the Karaikal.
At the outset, these pond fibres were naturally formed as a pale-
yellow layer on a dried pond. These typically available pond/algal
fibres were collected from the dried pond area and processed as per
our requirements. The completely dried fibres, as found in the pond,
is shown in Fig. 2. The dried fibres from the pond area as shown in
Fig. 2(a) and 2(b) was removed and cleaned (Fig. 2 (c) and 2(d))
for preparation of regular shape. Later, the dried pond fibres were
prepared into a circular shape, as shown in Fig. 2(e). The diameter
and thickness of the cleaned circular dried pond fibres considered
in the present study were about 75 mm and 5 mm, which were the
least possible dimensions that could be made into circular pieces.
The total number of 25–30 dried pond fibres were prepared for
the investigation of the enhancement of the productivity of the
single-slope solar desalination system.

2.4. Characterization of the novel pond fibre

The porosity, capillary rise absorbency, and heat transfer coef-

ficient of the pond fibre are noteworthy properties for augmenting
the evaporation rate in the absorber basin of solar still. The proper-
ties of the material can be estimated by using the techniques given
in the literature (Hansen, Narayanan, et al., 2015)

2.4.1. The porosity of the pond fibre

The porosity of the natural fibre is the main property that plays
a major role in the process of seawater desalination. The porous
space in the natural fibre absorbs the seawater and enhances the
evaporation of heated seawater from the absorber basin. The poros-
ity of the PF is determined by the porous space in the material and
it is calculated by using the formulae given below., (Murugan et al.,
2020). It was found that the porosity of each Luffa acutangula fibre
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic of SSSDS – PF.
was 12 %.
Vp
Ф= (1)
V bk
of a 1 mm copper sheet, the highly thermally conductive material
and the dimensions of the absorber basin were made as 100 cm Ww
Vp = (2)
(length) ×60 cm (breadth) ×5 cm (height) with 0.6 m2 absorber w
area. A transparent glass that acts as a heat trap was used as a cover
for the desalination system. The glass was kept at an angle equal W w = W sat − W dry (3)
to the latitude of Karaikal (11 ◦ ) for efficient working of the sys-
V bk = l∗b∗ t (4)
tem. In the absorber basin of SSSDS-PF, naturally available dried
pond fibres of precise dimensions were placed. The number of fibres
was chosen based on the percentage of occupancy (area %) in the 2.4.2. Capillary rise
absorber basin of solar still. In the current research, the percentage The capillary rise in novel dried pond fibre is given by Eq. (5) and
space occupancy in the absorber by fibres was chosen from 2% to 15 the surface tension of water was considered as 72 m N/m (Hauner,
% respectively for which three (2%), four (2.7 %), five (3.5 %), six (4%), Deblais, et al., 2017). It was found that the capillary rise of pond
ten (6.7 %), fifteen (10 %) and twenty (13.5 %) number of fibres were fibre was about 6.7 mm/hour.
selected to investigate the number of fibres to be floated for better 2 T cosz.Theta;
potable water productivity. The entire outer part of the system was hcr = (5)
rg
covered with Thermocol sheets of 2 cm thickness to reduce the heat
losses from the system. The fabricated two experimental set-ups
2.4.3. Water absorbency
were installed at the terrace of the Solar Energy Laboratory, Sci-
The water absorbency was evaluated as the time recorded until
ence Block, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Karaikal,
the water drop is absorbed completely from the surface of the mate-
India (10.92 ◦ N,79.83 ◦ E) for experimentation. The schematic of the
rial. It was found that the absorbency of novel pond fibre was about
SSSDS – PF is shown in Fig. 1 (a). The photograph of the developed
3 s.
two single slope desalination systems is shown in Fig. 1 (b).

2.4.4. Heat transfer coefficient

2.3. Preparation of naturally available pond fibres
The heat transfer between the wet wick absorber and the glass
cover can be given by using Eq. 6. The heat transfer coefficient was
The pond fibres (Algal Fibres) used in the current research
found to be 56.81 W/m2 K.
were completely dry and looking similar to other natural fibres.
These pond fibres/algal fibres were found at the pond located near q  
h= W/m2 K (6)
the testing institute, National Institute of Technology Puducherry, T

146
S.K. Suraparaju et al. Process Safety and Environmental Protection 154 (2021) 142–154

Fig. 2. Photograph of naturally available dried pond/algal fibres.

(a)Dried pond area and collected fibres.
(b)dried pond fibres collected at the pond area.
(c) and (d) Cleaned condition of dried pond fibre.
(e)The circular shape of the pond fibre for investigation.

Table 1
Uncertainties of the Instruments.
√
S. No Instrument Range Accuracy Standard uncertainty (accuracy/ 3)

1 Thermocouple – K type −270 to 1260 ◦ C ± 0.1 ◦ C 0.058 ◦ C

2 Pyranometer 0 to 1600 W/m2 ± 10 W/m2 5.774 W/m2
3 Measuring Cylinder 0 to 1000 mL ±10 mL 5.774 mL

2.5. Experimentation & uncertainty analysis
The experimentation of single slope solar desalination systems
with and without dried pond fibres were carried out at the terrace
of the science block, National Institute of Technology Puducherry,
Karaikal (10.92 ◦ N,79.83 ◦ E). The institute is located near the
seashore, and the water for experimental investigation was col-
lected from the sea. The water depth in the absorber basin was kept
at an optimum depth of 20 mm (Suraparaju and Natarajan, 2021a).
Both the CSSSDS and SSSDS with pond fibres set-ups were prepared
for experimentation, and the experiments were conducted in April
2020 to investigate the effect of naturally available pond fibres on
the productivity of the system. The temperatures of transparent
glass, water, absorber, pond fibre and ambient temperature were
measured using calibrated K- type thermocouples connected to the
“Agilent 34972A Data acquisition system. The global radiation of
the particular testing day at the testing location was measured
using the “Hukseflux Pyranometer”. Besides that, the freshwater
yield sliding under the bottom surface of the transparent glass was
collected in collecting jars through CPVC pipes. The experiments

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S.K. Suraparaju et al.
were conducted for seven consecutive days in April 2020, and read-
ings were recorded from 08:00 am to 06:00 pm (Indian Standard
Time) for every half an hour. In order to evaluate the effect of the
number of pond fibres on productivity, the number of floated pond
fibres on the water basin was varied such as three, four, five, six,
ten, fifteen, and twenty numbers for better productivity. The uncer-
tainty in the efficiency and hourly freshwater yield is given by the
following formulae and the uncertainty of the thermocouple, pyra-
nometer, and measuring cylindrical jar used in the experimentation
is tabulated in Table 1. (Suraparaju and Natarajan, 2021b)
 2  2  12
Process Safety and Environmental Protection 154 (2021) 142–154
• The saline water temperature was maintained as constant at all
locations of the absorber basin.
• The thermal and physical properties of the glass cover and saline
water were constant.
• The absorptivity of seawater was low and the transmitivity was
higher.
Based on the above assumptions, the thermal efficiency of the
solar desalination system can be obtained from the subsequent
equation (Cheng et al., 2019; Hassan and Abo-Elfadl, 2017; Sharshir
et al., 2020c)
∂d ∂d 
u = × udw + × uI(t) mw × L w
dw I (t)
(5) =  (7)
A× I

The uncertainty in hourly yield (udw ) is given by

3.2. Economic analysis
 2  12
ıd Economic analysis was carried out for both desalination systems
udw = uy (6)
ıy1 to estimate the cost per litre of fresh water produced. The calcu-
lation for economic analysis was based on the literature (Kabeel

2  12 et al., 2010; Mukherjee and Tiwari, 1986; Sharshir et al., 2020a;
di − df
udw = uy (7) Suraparaju et al., 2021; Tiwari and Sahota, 2017),
ıy1
The first annual cost (FC) was given by,
Where di and df are the initial and final hourly yield in mL at any
F.C = C.F × P (8)
period and uy is the uncertainty of yield in percentage. It was evalu-
ated that the uncertainty in hourly yield was 1% and further taking Where CF is the capital recovery factor and P denote the principal
all other uncertainties into the account, the error in total yield was investment, and CF is given by;
about ±1.5 %. Besides that, the error in solar radiation and tem- l
perature measurement was 0.05 % and 0.1 %. Thus, the total error i(1 + i) s
C.F = (9)
ls
percentage in the solar still efficiency was about ±2% (1 + i) − 1
Besides this, several safety measures were adopted to reduce
Where i denote the interest rate, and l indicates the lifetime of the
the errors during experimentation. The safety measures were listed
desalination system.
below:
The annual savage factor (S.F) is given by;

1 The solar still and the absorber were carefully inspected and ver- S.F = F.F × S (10)
ified that there were no leaks.
Where FF is the sinking fund factor and S is the salvage value. FF
2 The absorber basin was properly cleaned every day before filling
and S are given by;
the seawater to avoid a salt deposition. It was ensured that there
were no traces of salt on the absorber basin before starting the i
F.F = (11)
experiment. Also, the absorber basin was filled with seawater up l
(1 + i) s − 1
to a suitable depth with appropriate care.
3 The glass cover was thoroughly cleaned for the removal of dust S = 0.2 × P (12)
and other radiation obstructing materials. The annual maintenance cost (MC) per year is expected to be 15
4 The readings of global radiation, temperatures at different loca- % of the FC and therefore,
tions of two solar stills and potable water productivity were
properly recorded at regular intervals. M.C = 0.15 × F.C (13)
5 Also, the experiments were repeated three times to ensure The total annual cost (T.C) is given by,
repeatability and it was observed that there was no major change
in the productivity during the repetition of experiments. T.C = F.C + M.C − S.F (14)

3. Thermo-economic analysis of desalination systems
In this section, the thermal and economic analyses of both
desalination systems were analysed to study the viability of the
solar desalination system.
3.1. Thermal analysis
The following assumptions were considered for the thermal
analysis of single slope solar systems (Dhivagar et al., 2021;
Mohanraj et al., 2021)
• The depth of the feed seawater was maintained at 20 mm.
• The vapour leakage was considered negligible.
• The solar still was in quasi-static condition.
• The heat losses from the system were considered negligible.
The cost per litre (CPL) freshwater per sq.m is given by;
T.C
CPL = (15)
A.Y
Where AY is the average annual freshwater yield, and it is calcu-
lated by the average yield obtained on a day multiplied with no. of
operating days of the desalination system in a year.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. System temperatures & global radiation
The performance of the conventional solar desalination system
with and without pond fibres was evaluated. The experiments were
carried out from 15th April 2020 to 21st April 2020 (seven days)
with different numbers of pond fibres to assess their effect on the
productivity of the system. The number of pond fibre was made

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S.K. Suraparaju et al. Process Safety and Environmental Protection 154 (2021) 142–154

Fig. 3. Variation of global solar radiation from 15th April to 21st April 2020 for
different numbers of pond fibres.
Fig. 5. Variation of water temperatures for both desalination systems.

Fig. 4. Variation of ambient temperatures from 15th April to 21st April 2020 for Fig. 6. Variation of glass temperatures for CSSSDS and SSSDS-PF system.
different numbers of pond fibres.

to float on the water basin starting from as three, four, five, six,
ten, fifteen, and twenty numbers respectively. The seven sets of
readings were recorded simultaneously along with conventional
solar desalination systems measurements from morning 8.00 a.m.
to evening 6.00 pm. The variation of global solar radiation and
ambient temperature for different numbers of pond fibres start-
ing from 15th April 2020 to 21st April 2020 (seven days) is shown
in Figs. 3 and 4.
From Fig.3, it was observed that the average solar radiation
of all the days of experiments in the testing location was around
700 W/m2 . The maximum solar radiation was recorded at around
1000 W/m2 from 12.00 pm to 01.30 pm every day. From Fig.4, the
ambient temperature was around 30◦ C in the beginning and slowly
raised to 37◦ C and 38◦ C in the afternoon and decreased to a tem-
perature of around 30◦ C in the evening. It was depicted that there
were many fluctuations in the ambient temperature from morning
to evening for all the days of experiments. Besides, the tempera-
tures of water, glass cover, copper absorber plate, and pond fibre Fig. 7. Variation of absorber temperatures of CSSSDS and SSSDS-PF system.

were measured. The variations of water temperature, glass cover

temperature, copper absorber plate temperature and fibre temper- tion system with pond fibre were low compared to the conventional
atures with time for both the experimental set-ups for the different system. These low temperatures of the water in the SSSDS – PF sys-
number of pond fibres are shown in Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8. It is well tem were mainly due to the incorporation of dried pond natural
understood from Fig.5 that the water temperatures of the desalina- fibres into the absorber basin. After passing through the transpar-

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S.K. Suraparaju et al. Process Safety and Environmental Protection 154 (2021) 142–154

Fig. 9. Cumulative yield on both CSSSDS and SSSDS-PF system.

Fig. 8. Variation of pond fibre temperatures in the desalination system with pond
fibres.

ent glass, the solar radiation was passed to the basin water through
porous structured dried pond fibres. This phenomenon reduced the
water temperature sluggishly compared to CSSSDS. The maximum
water temperature of 72 ◦ C were observed in CSSSDS and 70.8 ◦ C
in the SSSDS-PF of 5 nos of pond fibres.
Similarly, from Fig.6, it is clear that the outer glass surface tem-
peratures of the pond fibre desalination system were lowered than
the conventional one. This occurrence was due to the presence of
porous structured dried pond fibres in the basin water and mini-
mized the inside free convection currents. However, the magnitude
of the ambient temperature and insolation also directly affected the
glass surface temperature. The maximum glass surface tempera-
ture was 71.3 ◦ C in CSSSDS and 60.2 ◦ C in the SSSDS-PF of 5 nos of
pond fibres.
In contrast to the above observation, absorber surface tempera-
tures of the desalination system with pond fibres were higher than
the conventional one. This observation can be seen in Fig. 7. The
net result of the presence of porous structured dried pond fibres in Fig. 10. Variation of yield with the number of dried pond fibres on the basin water.

the basin water for all the cases of the number of pond fibres, the
absorber surface temperature increased compared to CSSSDS. For
an instance of 5 nos pond fibres, the maximum absorber tempera-
ture was 70 ◦ C in SSSDS - PF and 60.2 ◦ C in the CSSSDS. From Fig.8, it
is understood that the maximum surface temperature of the pond
fibres was observed as 69.1 ◦ C for the case of 5 nos of pond fibres.
The surface temperature of pond fibres varied with the number of
pond fibres. The increased surface temperature of the pond fibre
led to an increase in the evaporation rate from the porous struc-
tured pond fibres. It was also noted that the fibre temperature was
almost similar to that of the water temperatures of the system. It is
also evident from Fig.8, that, the surface temperature of the porous
structured dried pond fibres increased from 8.00 a.m. to 12.30 pm
and then started decreasing to the lowest value.
4.2. Enhancement of productivity of the pond fibre system
The productivity of the systems was the main topic of interest
in the proposed study of the inclusion of dried fibres in the basin
water. This inclusion of fibres increased the productivity of the sys-
tem to a greater extent. Thus, the presence of porous structured
pond fibre enhanced the evaporation rate from the basin water.
Also, the increased number of fibre samples in the system decreased
the evaporation rate by absorbing more water into fibres. Never-
theless, for all the cases of the number of pond fibres, the yield of
the pond fibres was high compared to the conventional one. Com-
pared to CSSSDS, the absorber surface temperature was also higher
in the SSSDS-PF for all the cases of the number of pond fibres. The
temperature difference between absorber and glass surface was
observed as high in SSSDS-PF compared to CSSSDS. The difference
in temperatures increased the evaporation rate for all considered
cases, and in turn, the productivity of the system to a maximum
value of 29.67 % compared to CSSSDS. The observance of increased
productivity of all the cases of pond fibres of SSSDS-PF is shown in
Fig. 9 and 10. The cumulative yield from 8.00 a.m. to 06.00 pm is
depicted in Fig. 9, and the total quantity of freshwater yield for both
CSSSDS and SSSDS-PF is given in Fig. 10. In Fig.9, it is observed that
the cumulative freshwater production was increased from 10.00
a.m. onwards, and the maximum quantity of the freshwater output
observed between 11.30 a.m. to 4.30 pm and slowly decreased to
a minimum amount of freshwater production. It is also well noted
that, for the five numbers of pond fibres, the difference between the
amount of freshwater output in CSSSDS and SSSDS-PF was maxi-
mum and enhanced to 29.67 % higher compared to CSSSDS.
The productivities of SSSDS-PF and CSSSDS was represented as
a histogram in Fig. 10. This histogram indicated that there was a
more significant difference in the productivities of about 600 mL
with five samples in the system when compared to other sets. Even
though there were higher productivities reported in other than the
system with five numbers of pond fibres, but the corresponding
difference between the yield from CSSSDS and SSSDS - PF was less

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Fig. 12. Variation of increased efficiency of SSSDS – PF over CSSSDS on the number
Fig. 11. Variation of overall thermal efficiency of both CSSSDS and SSSDS-PF system of pond fibres samples.
for all the number of pond fibres samples.

Table 2
than the difference between the yield of CSSSDS and SSSDS with 5 Parameters and Outcomes of the Economic Analysis.
numbers of pond fibres samples. The major reason for variation in
Parameters Solar Still with Conventional
the productivities of CSSSDS in the seven days was mainly due to
Pond Fibres Solar Still
the fluctuations in solar radiation and ambient temperatures dur-
Lifetime 10 years 10 years
ing the experimentation which lead to fluctuations in freshwater
Interest Rate 0.15 0.15
productivity. However, the freshwater yield of CSSSDS was com- Principal Investment 9000 9000
pared with SSSDS-PF on the same day with varying numbers of Capital Recovery Factor 0.2 0.2
pond fibres in the absorber basin. Thus, the influence of pond fibres First Annual Cost 1800 1800
on freshwater productivity was considered under similar meteoro- Annual Savage Factor 88.8 88.8
Maintainence Cost 270 270
logical conditions for better comparison. Hence from Figs. 9 and 10,
Total Cost 1981.2 1981.2
it can be concluded that the utilization of dried natural pond fibre in Annual Average Yield 1488 1170
the solar desalination system for augmenting the evaporation rate Cost Per Litre 1.3 1.7
of seawater showed significant results and enhanced the freshwa- Market Value of one litre of water = 20
Payback Period 91 days 115 days
ter productivity from the system. Also, it was observed that the
increase in the number of samples in the system was leading to
a decreasing yield due to more water absorption and obstructing
4.4. Economic analysis
the evaporation rate of water. However, the fewer samples such
as 3 and 4 number of pond fibres showed increased productivity,
The economic analysis for both the CSSSDS and SSSDS-PF sys-
but the increased productivity was significantly less. The SSSDS –
tems was evaluated to estimate the cost per litre production of
PF with five fibres can be concluded as the optimum number for
freshwater. The principal investment is based on the prices of each
enhanced productivity for the selected configuration of dried pond
part of the desalination system assembly, according to the Indian
fibre.
market value. The following assumptions were made for economic
4.3. Thermal analysis analysis (Mukherjee and Tiwari, 1986; Sharshir et al., 2020a)

The overall thermal efficiency of each desalination system was
evaluated from Eq. 1 and plotted as a histogram. The variation of
energy efficiency with the number of pond fibres is shown in Fig. 11.
It was seen from the histogram; all the efficiencies of the SSSDS-
PF system were about more than 70 % except the SSSDS-PF system
with 20 pond fibres. The inclusion of pond fibres into the desali-
nation system effectively increased the thermal performance, as
shown in the histogram. In comparison with CSSSDS efficiency, the
efficiency of SSSDS – PF was higher in all the considered cases. The
effective increase in the efficiency of SSSDS-PF concerning CSSSDS
is shown in Fig. 12, as a histogram. It was seen clearly that the
increase in thermal efficiency with five numbers of pond fibres
samples was 29.67 % whereas, for 3, 4, 6, 10, 15 and 20 numbers
of samples, the increase in the thermal efficiency was observed as
10.57 %, 25.97 %, 26.81 %, 23.83 % 4.43 % and 3.63 % respectively
when compared with the CSSSDS. It can be concluded from the
above percentages, the SSSDS – PF with five numbers of dried pond
fibre samples was the optimum with the selected configuration for
better evaporation rate as well as the better yield when compared
to the other number of samples in the system.
a) The interest rate is 15 %.
b) The salvage value is assessed as 20 % of the fixed cost.
c) The life of the system, ls = 10 years.
d) The maintenance and operating costs are assessed as 15 % of the
annual fixed costs.
e) No. of days of operation = 300 days/ year
The parameters and outcomes of the economic analysis were
tabulated. The values of the tabulation are given in Table 2. From
Table 2, it was evident that the cost per litre freshwater produced
for SSSDS – PF was about 1.3 (INR) and the cost per litre fresh-
water produced for CSSSDS was about 1.7 (INR) and the payback
periods of SSSDS – PF and CSSSDS was 91 days and 115 days respec-
tively. However, the principal cost for both the systems remains
the same as the pond fibres were naturally available with minimal
cost of processing which is almost can be considered negligible.
The outcomes of the economic analysis of both systems were plot-
ted in Fig. 13 for a better comparison between CSSSDS and SSSDS
– PF. It can be concluded that the SSSDS – PF had an improved
economic performance relative to CSSSDS. The inclusion of porous

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S.K. Suraparaju et al. Process Safety and Environmental Protection 154 (2021) 142–154

Table 3
Comparison of Current Results with Literature.

Parameters Current Study (Nayi and Modi, (Modi and (Dhivagar and (Sampathkumar and
2020) Modi, 2019) Mohanraj, 2021) Natarajan, 2021)

Type of Solar Still Solar Still with Square pyramid Solar still with Solar Still with Solar Still with palm
Pond Fibres solar still using jute cloth as graphite fins and flower powder
thermal storage wick material magnets microparticles
Productivity Enhancement 29.67 % 11.35 % 21.46 % 19.6 % 35 %
Cost Per Litre 1.3 2.65 2.4 1.56 1.94
Payback Period 3 months 11.28 months 15 months 3.4 months 4 months

(ii) Single Slope Solar Desalination System with Pond Fibre (SSSDS
– PF).

The effect of the numbers of dried pond fibres such as 3, 4, 5, 6,

10, 15 and 20 was estimated for better productivity of the solar
desalination system. The fibres in the absorber basin were cho-
sen based on the percentage of space occupancy in the absorber.
The significant conclusions made from the current research are as
follows:

i The addition of dried pond fibres enhanced productivity signifi-

cantly by improving the evaporation rate by providing more room
for evaporation in the absorber basin. The comparative study
with a different number of dried pond fibre samples in the desali-
nation system concluded that the basin with five pond fibres
samples achieved better efficiency when compared to other num-
bers of pond fibres.
ii It was observed that the optimum percentage occupancy of fibres
Fig. 13. Illustration of Economic Analysis.
in the absorber basin was about 3.5 % (5 fibres)for better produc-
tivity compared to 2% (3 fibres), 2.7 % (4 fibres), 4% (6 fibres), 6.7
Table 4
% (10 fibres), 10 % (15 fibres) and 13.5 % (20 fibres) occupancy
Water Quality Parameters.
in the absorber basin. It was observed that the solar still with 20
Parameters/Solar Still Saline Water CSSSDS SSSDS-PF BIS number of LA fibre samples (13.5 % occupancy) leading to more
pH 8.9 7.7 7.7 6.5−8.5 water absorption and less evaporation rate. Therefore, introduc-
TDS 33,000 ppm 150 150 50−250 ing more fibres into the absorber led to a decrease in freshwater
productivity.
iii The increase in the overall thermal efficiency of the SSSDS – PF
dried pond fibres into the solar still made the desalination system
with 5 numbers of dried PF was 29.67 % whereas the SSSDS –
more viable. Also, it was found that the current research had a bet-
PF with 3, 4, 6, 10, 15 and 20 samples had an increase of 10.57
ter performance in terms of CPL as well as the payback period when
%, 25.97 %, 26.81 %, 23.83 % 4.43 % and 3.63 % respectively when
compared to the literature. The results of the current study such as
compared with the CSSSDS. It was observed that the desalination
enhancement in productivity, CPL and PBP were compared with
system with 3 and 4 numbers of pond fibre samples had a rea-
existing literature in Table 3.
sonable increase in efficiency due to less number of samples but
whereas the increasing number of samples such as 6, 10, 15 and
5. Water quality analysis
20 leading to more water absorption and less evaporation rate
The samples of seawater and the freshwater from the Conven- which further lead to a nominal increase in the efficiency.
tional Solar Still and Solar Still with Pond Fibres were collected and iv The economic analysis of both systems reported that the cost per
tested water properties such as pH and TDS. The results were listed litre production of freshwater was about 1.3 and 1.7 for SSSDS
in Table 4. Also, it was observed that the properties of desalinated – PF and CSSSDS respectively. The payback periods of the systems
water were in the acceptable range of Bureau of Indian Standards were 91 days and 115 days, respectively. Thus, the inclusion of
(BIS) requirements. dried natural pond fibres in the SSSDS for performance enhance-
ment is a better choice not only on the yield but also from the
6. Conclusions economic point of view.
v It has been concluded that the desalination system with five num-
In the current research, the influence of novel dried pond fibres bers of dried pond fibres provided a better thermal efficiency
on the performance of a single slope solar desalination system when compared to others due to appropriate enhancement in
was assessed to enhance freshwater productivity. The experiments the evaporation from the basin. Also, the economic performance
were conducted at the terrace of the solar energy laboratory, of the SSSDS – PF is better than that of CSSSDS.
National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Karaikal, India.
The desalination systems considered for experimental assess- In future, the current research can be extended for multi-
ment were as follows; objective optimization by considering the different varieties of
natural fibres with potential physio-thermal properties, the size,
(i) Conventional Single Slope Solar Desalination System (CSSSDS) shape and orientation of fibres in the absorber basin for better
and enhancement in the performance of the single-slope solar desali-

152
S.K. Suraparaju et al.
nation systems. Also, an analytical model can be further developed
with the natural fibres in the absorber basin.
Data availability
Data available on request from the authors.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors report no declarations of interest.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the sup-
port provided by the National Institute of Technology Puducherry,
Karaikal. Also, the current research was submitted for filing
an Indian Patent entitled “SINGLE SLOPE SOLAR DESALINA-
TION SYSTEM WITH ALGAL FIBRES”, patent application number:
202141019442, on 28th April 2021.
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