Effect of phase change material on concentric circular tubular solar still-Integration meets enhancement

In this work, a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC)-concentric circular tubular solar still (CCTSS) with phase change material (PCM) is presented. The experiment is conducted with and without PCM in the CCTSS. The PCM is loaded (450 g of paraffin wax/tube) in the specially designed circular trough of the tubular solar still. The water temperature (Tw), air temperature (Tair), outer cover temperature (Toc) and fresh water production are measured in frequent intervals of time. The results showed that the fresh water production of CPC-CCTSS with and without PCM integration were 5779 ml/m2/day and 5330 ml/m2/day. Therefore, the PCM enhanced the fresh water productivity by 8%.