Renewable Energy: Solar Water Distillers
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- NMSU Assoc. Professor Kenny Stevens talks about homemade solar water distillers, which use evaporation and condensation to purify water. These distillers are effective, safe, and cheap. They are ideal for disaster situations, such as floods, where water is plentiful but not safe to drink.
Yo Professor - you forgot to tell us HOW to build it!
It's a box with plexiglass on top and foam at the bottom with pipes.
Where do you place the water that gets distilled afterwards?
@@danielmonterrosas7563
Collection jugs that is
right there in The vid?
@@danielmonterrosas7563 it is like a sweat you just make a pipeline that collect the dripping and place a mug or bottle.
In order to knows, young grasshopper, you must buy...
Any chance we could see a detailed diagram with material list? This is a nice video but it lacks the details people would need to safely build these. You use the wrong materials and you could be drinking heavily chemicalized water (aka stuff that can evaporate with or even BEFORE water will)
To the good fortune poster who said regular water has minerals that the body needs, thus those minerals are "food"......... I disagree!!! Number one our bodies get all the minerals we need from the food we eat (that is if we eat properly). Second there are scholars who say when we drink regular water with all those minerals in it, our kidneys have to work harder to filter junk that could cause health problems like calcium buildups in the arteries, or kidney stones etc. etc. Again there are those that believe drinking distilled water is much more natural than drinking water filtered through rocks and sand. Their thinking is rainwater is actually distilled water to begin with, and it's the water plants thrive on so it should be good for us humans as well. I subscibe to that theory.
I tend to agree with you but think even though rainwater has been naturally distilled it has to fall back through our polluted skies to us and will inadvertently gather whatever that is.
Not ver articulate are you and a bit of a jerk.
@@kazadthebad9995 how
The skies “polluted” how
you gonna prove that skies
are polluted therefore rain
is ALL polluted water from
now on not just acid rain?
Great question. Plastics can be a problem. Always check the temperature and outgassing problems with the plastic you are using. Polycarbonate has shown itself to be the most friendly material. If you can taste it, then it is a problem
I think the glass will be much efficient material for this kind of project.
thank you that was very informative for us here in Africa ..much appreciated
u r indian
@Greg Brown thanks
Great idea with a loving intention for fellow human beings.
God bless you and your team Sir.
Liked and Subscribed.
Thank you.
I have noted up to the first 100ml may contain hydrocarbons from gasoline, or other contaminates which are heavier than water and come out first when condensed. Throw out the first 100 ml and then you should be good for that load of water you added to clean up to drink
I'm with you! Any dillution effect from distilled water is minimal compared to what you take in from food. Proven over and over
wish he had gone into the construction of the stills
+IClausius For those looking for plans, here are a couple. The first, I remember
from when I subscribed in 1974:
www.motherearthnews.com/renewable-energy/solar-still-zmaz74sozraw.aspx?PageId=2
www.motherearthnews.com/diy/home/how-to-make-a-solar-still-ze0z1209zsch.aspx
For those concerned about the lack of minerals (not sure how you are
monitoring for the presence and amount in your current drinking
water, but...), consider adding a colloidal mineral to your final
distilled product, if you feel that you are missing out. We use a
product called Concentrace.
Finally, it is my understanding that certain solvents in the water will boil
off before the water due to a lower boiling temp. For this reason a
cheap carbon filtration device should be added to the out-going line,
prior to hitting the collection bottle. Obviously, this filter
should be changed frequently.
@@tomcornwell4688 bro, enough with the essays!.....;0
We worked on building a very similar unit around 2009-2010 for India with Engineers without Borders. I still don't understand why this appropriate technology isn't used more widely. Here in Los Alamos area of New Mexico, for example, municipality water has very high concentrations of arsenic, and this would remove it. And it is so cost effective.
because you need to be a slave and pay big compagnies
I started distilling my two water in America, and what’s left after the water is gone is disgusting, with how contaminated water is now a days distillation is necessary.
I have a heater distiller, but I’d like a more energy efficient way.
cool device, you need a squeegee mounted on a track like a drawer inside the box to
push the droplets off faster
A system like this was built by Americans in South America ( Chile?)I the 1900s, It provided hundreds of liters a day for the local residents , I can't understand why these stills aren't built in every poor country.
We made one from a 30 gal bearal a few months ago and there's no way you are getting even a gallon of clean water a day out of those little unit's!
A barrel isn't necessarily the best tool for the job, but it will work in a pinch. The design shown in the video is more productive for distilling water because the area for condensation is greater and at an angle to naturally create more coverage for evaporated water to cling to for collection. The water is closer to the 1st stage of collection and depending on the area and size of the glass you use, it might be a lot of water you could be collecting.
this is what we need in tacloban philipines
Great, prof. HOW DO YOU BUILD IT?
العلم نور والجهل ظلام . المخترع د-اسامة باهديلة
I'm thinking that if you could take a large rear projection t.v. and pull out the fresnel lens while staying away from the center focal point, a person could possibly accelerate the process by super heating the moist air. Going to look into that.
Hi, nice video! I'm trying to design one of these on a large scale as a permanent primary water source for a small village of 27 people. Can you just clarify how the inside of the 'tool box' looks? On that angle, how does the water evaporate and not fall back into the original water stock? Is there a wall separating the two water bodies? cheers
عليك اضافة بعض العناصر لتكون صالحة للشرب
hey curious if you ever built anything yourself?
You would want to use materials that wouldn't introduce BPA, Pthalates, etc. back into the finished product. I suspect the design that's shown would need some material modifications.
My thoughts as well, but probably still better then general contaminated water even with the BPAs
May I know where this process is implementing?
If you just want a fun little thing, you can take a bowl, a cup, a small weight (rock), and a piece of syran wrap, put 1-2 inches of water in the bowl, then put the cup in the water so that the cup does not fill with water from the bowl (right side up), put the syran wrap across the top, and the weight directly over the cup. Once the cup fills, you have a cup of warm, but drinkable, water...
just wrote a 4000 word Dissertation based on the idea from this video.
Will you consider publishing it?
putting some metal side flaps at an angle to direct more sunshine into the box could help in winter along with insulating the entire thing.
This is very simple, cheap, reliable. 👍
Everyone should have this!!! I wonder how often it needs to be cleaned - because the scum would get thick in there eventually.
I have a heater distiller, I rinse it out after every use, and use citric acid to remove mineral build up every month or so.
Ok can you show us the process in making one of these contraptions please?
Congratulations 👏👏👏👏
God bless you for it!!!
Please I have a question:
Using that process Can I make dirty water become clean water to drink?
Please sorry for my bad english and thank you very much professor
Yes it can. You can make a solar still by digging a hole in the ground, lining the hole with plant water, waste water, etc., And capturing it with a tarp. You need a rock at the center of the tarp, and a cup and tube to drink from as water drips below the rock. You'll need 6 or more of these per person.
My guess would be the plastic bucket and the saran wrap. Don't put anything into your system that you don't want to drink. Try the experiment again and see if it is better the second time around
are there instructions on the site? not clear how water gets into the unit.
Using plexiglass defeats the purpose as does the chemical leeching plastic storage container you are using to collect the end product. No plastics and no aluminium or zinc products should be used for this.
I agree...Stainless and tempered glass should do the trick..
hah, you beat me to it.
@ You're missing a relevant detail: Glass is easier to come by and cheaper than Plexiglas. Generally, Plexiglas is used either out of laziness by the crafter or, because they need to bend it and are only doing a one-off. Maybe to reduce risk of shattering. but neither of those is an issue / requirement for a still.
So I'll call their use of Plexiglas gratuitous...
You can actually make pretty good stills with just some bamboo, sand or even mud. Enough examples on YT. Watch some of those vids, those guys kick ass in helping themselves.
Its not like everybody outside the first world is brain-dead and incapable... its more like western manipulations cause a constant and intended state of chaos and poverty they can't overcome.
Yes, no plastics, no toxic ashesives, no metals. I'm building one with glass layer in bottom over black paper. Im trying to find someone to split cut my glass tubing for the collection tube/trough. These distillers are a great idea but only if we're not slowly poisoning ourselves. The black silicon coatings, PVC and plastic pipes being used is crazy especially with the heat they create.
Where can ya get a diagram of this?
Good advice. A still cleans itself but it takes time...sometime. Unless you have some pretty horrible stuff the taste test works well.
The idea is simple, but you don't find any company making it. Unless it's air tight, bacteria might get into the condensed water. A simpler approach might be to have a larger glass jar containing a smaller glass jar, using the large one as the condensation collector. It must be airtight, and using an upside down glass to prop up the smaller jar to the view of the sun, and bury the condensation collection part under the shade.
Even if it gets bacteria without nutrients it wont have any growth. The only one i cant think is botulism but the requires rusty metal. You could turn pee into water using this. Perhaps more dangerous would be a fungi. As it could just live in the tank and spore into the distilled water.
Besides this water is mostly pure its good for cooking but id probably run it through a second solar distiller thats only running once distilled water so it should stay extremely clean.
Do you have plans / directions on how to make the box?
2 square Meters is a huge panel .I guess that would have to ideally be mounted on a roof or something out of the way and not of glass .
There must be commercially available units in different sizes available as a DIY Kit. Styrofoam, plexiglass etc.
Thanks for the video I can't build that can u tell where I could buy a good filter. Many people spend thousands on cloths n material things and forget their health we need more of u in this world I'm Jamaican and want a better safe water to brink please advice where I can buy a good filter
Sure need to find some people who already know how to do this to show me, hands on; I can't figure out anything from this video, except a general idea that it is possible. But, I think it is massively important to know -- there don't seem to be any clean water sources left anywhere in the Western world anymore. Pollution everywhere.
Patti, I made one when I was young, the inside is just a box that heat's up when the sun goes through the glass, I had a copper pipe on the top with holes in it (hooked to a water source, mine was a can) and a towel wrapped around it to soak up the water, the towel then when down to the bottom and wrapped around another shaft (excess water drained out a hole), then back up and sowed together, the water then condensed on the glass and ran down to the bottom where an angle iron was attached to the glass, then the water ran down the iron and dripped into a container.
Prise and adress
I tried it: placed a glass bowl inside a food grade plastic bucket, covered it with saran wrap - did the rock thing...placed it in a very sunny area (west exposure). After 3 days I got one cup of distilled water, and it tasted really BITTER! I was disappointed and stopped the experiment..What could be the reason?
Squirrel peed in it.
@@orandachildren1051 You must be a real expert, huh? Are your fish tanks filled with pee?
Those are single chamber solar still. Do you have two chambers (evaporation chamber + condensation chamber) solar still models?
Good question, I was wondering about that too. My guess is yes. But I haven't tested yet. Have you got any answer?
One concern I have with this system: How do you prevent bacterial/fungal growth? After a few days I would think you might want to boil any water that comes out of there.
Actually, direct sunlight kills bacteria and virus. I don't know about fungi, but most fungi likes to grow in dark moist areas.
Also bacteria need to feed off something. Distilled water is not suitable for bacteria to grow in because it provides no food for the bacteria.
Run a Uv light
That much sun exposure to clear water is likely to kill any bacteria anyway
Always throw away the first ounce of water from each batch as some chemicals evaporate and condense like water. Don't drink the last ounce either. The difference being that chemicals evaporate at different temps than water and so they make their appearance at the beginning and end of a distillation.
You could also just throw away the first ounce and stop the distillation process before all the water is gone.
Why don’t you just don’t condense
for 5 min then start condensing after
The 5 minutes is up. In addition to
stop evaporating before water empties,
Great so how do you make it??
Great video. Can you please tell me how to actually build the one on the left with the glass. I have all the materials, I just need to know how. Thanks
Will system like this work for recycling a shower and kitchen water? I was told to have a home in Arizona i need a septic system. But i don't think it's a good idea to mix a poop and kitchen water together when i could be recycling the kitchen water with distillation in the most desert no water areas.
Any Plans or drawings available? Thanks!
so boiling is not necessary for pure water or it does boil technically?
Boiling the water only kills living threats, the water will still be contaminated with chemicals, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, etc
Also I think a solar distiller does technically boil the water because it turns it into a gas.
want to know if it satisfies the mineral requirements needed for water to become 'drinking' water. What i would like to know is how to make it a more permanent solution for coastal communities who are suffering from saline intrusion in their drinking water. This would help. My initial hunch is that As IS it can be prescribed to communities during disasters as a temporary solution to their drinking water crisis.
+Enamul Haque If you want some "minerals" in this pure water, you could just add 5-10% of your "tap" or "well" water right back into this water.
Are you thinking that people are mineral-deficient ??
TIMEtoRIDE900 thanks. Not really but I thought distilled water is not a proper drinking water as it violates the standard for drinking water.
+Enamul Haque What do you mean violates the standard for drinking water? Distilled water is the purest drinking water.
+Crusty Tackleford I've been watching desalination plants videos, after water being desalinated, they add some calcium and flourine to the water. I don't know exactly why but I think it's important.
I have been watching videos about distilling water for some time. The points I have heard are that most minerals that are removed from the body through urination while drinking distilled water are either excess minerals or non organic forms of these minerals your body does not utilize anyway. That a 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt per gallon of water will add mineral nutrients you need.
yes. It stays behind in a still.
How do you get fluoride in your ground water.
Aluminum manufacturers needed a way to get rid of their byproduct (fluoride) and so dump it into water sources, in America we actually do this intentionally. Because we are idiots I guess.
What about water contaminated with petro chemicals?
Run through a charcoal filter after distillation, I wish they would have shown that in this video.
I’m not a fan of the taste it imparts on the water, but it’s better than drinking chemicals.
The Navajo need this.
Ty professor for sharing this . Would it also be true that if the water bottle you were using were kept in a significantly cooler environment " out of the sun" so to speak that the difference in tempurature would cause the water to condense and or collect into the bottle or bottles that much more easier ?
no.
is it safe to drink after being distilled or does it need another process?
Yes, distilled water is the best water to drink, Many will tell you that you need the minerals from water, that is a lie, the minerals in normal water are inorganic. Only plants can use inorganic minerals. Animals need organic minerals which we get from our food.
@@alwilson7998 water does not hydrate you.
It is a FLUSH NOT a fluid that bodies use.
If you are hospitalized from dehydration
what do The hospitals give you injection
IVs of? Is it H2O or some other hydrating
factor that bodies can actually use (try it!)
so how do you build it?
I remembered that pre urine water drinking in waterworld so i was wondering how to actually avoid that.
TY
can I ask if how many hours that salt water will desalinate?
Not sure about the polycarbonate cover. If i remember correctly, plastics break down in direct sunlight. I think glass is the best choice.
gconol Water bottles used by drinking water services such as Alhambra and Arrowhead are made of polycarbonate, and so are bubble canopies on jet fighters. The stuff is quite stable in sunlight.
***** On a macroscopic level? Yes, they are stable. But in a microscopic level, they do break down and it dissolves into the water. The plastics that are floating in the ocean have been degrading because of sun exposure. They've become so tiny now that smaller fish are eating them.
It's one thing to drink water with a little bit of plastic dissolved in it during an emergency, but on a daily basis that's going to kill you.
gconol Considering that we've been exposed to plastics for over three generations and people don't have three eyes or horns growing out of their foreheads yet, I'd say the risk is very, very low. I'm not worried.
***** You should really read about BPA found in plastics. You'd be surprised what it does. You're still young, I assume, but that can only go so far to protect your health.
If you have kids, then all the more reason why you need to be aware.
Tony R. Putting the collection bottle in the shade is a good idea, regardless of the material of which it is made, since that will keep it cooler and reduce evaporative loss.
You're right. Sorry. Go to solaqua.com for some really good ideas. You can buy the completed unit or get plans. Think about about a bathtub with a piece of glass on top of it. Just don't make the bathtub out of anything that you wouldn't want in your water. Bathtub plus inclined piece of glass = solar still. Write me back if this doesn't make sense.
can we use the water in cars?
Nice and effective device 🤗
Thanks
What else can you build it with?
What's the point if you don't give some details on the innards or the construction?
Luc, I made one when I was young, the inside is just a box that heat's up when the sun goes through the glass, I had a copper pipe on the top with holes in it (hooked to a water source, mine was a can) and a towel wrapped around it to soak up the water, the towel then when down to the bottom and wrapped around another shaft (excess water drained out a hole), then back up and sowed together, the water then condensed on the glass and ran down to the bottom where an angle iron was attached to the glass, then the water ran down the iron and dripped into a container.
Thank a lot for the information, I have a question, the water got is destilated or it have enough minerals to be drunk?
God provides *every creature* with
our exact needs and water isn’t for
human consumption as far as what
hydrates is as a fluid. Water FLUSHES
humans it HYDRATES The lower animals
I took great plans from Avasva . It help me a lot with my own solars.
Hello, many thanks for your interesting video. I was wondering how much water per day we can produce in one square metre? And how much costs in materials? Can you provide the bill of material? Please
One square meter distiller can produce maybe 1 gallon (4 litres) on a summer day with full sun. Over one year, figure 2 litres average per day with no down time, winter much less than summer, for a distiller this size. The presenter Kenny Stevens said a 2-sq. meter distiller can produce the water needs for a family of 4. In reality this is not accurate. It would in ideal conditions output 2 gallons of distilled water on a summer day, just enough for drinking, leaving nothing for cooking or a sponge bath.
Polycarbonate is nearly indestructible, its AMAZING
+DragonsREpic Does it leach into the water? Also does it hold up well in extreme heat?
in reply to Gunzshow 55312
PLEASE tell me you're joking about this guy not being an American. New Mexico is the big space west of Texas and east of Arizona. It's the 47th State (January 1912), and has the oldest continuously-ocupied capital in the United States (Santa Fe). We got our first European settlers (Spanish, under Don Juan de Onate) in 1598, well before most all the rest of the area that became the USA. And, we were the first place in the world to be nuked (Trinity Site, near Alamogordo, 1945).
Tom Swinburn Sadly, the ignorance you describe does not surprise me in the least.
I have a friend who moved to New Zealand. People asked her how she was going to live without electricity.
What kind of chemicals are in the poly carbonate plastics though .. We all know no plastics are full of carcinogens .
Thanks for sharing! Calcium and lime kill evaporative coolers... I'm in Las Cruces, interested in installing a distillation unit to feed my 3 ton evaporative cooler. Assuming 15 gals per hour, that's 360 gals per day, requiring 720 square meters of glass (a 27m square). That's a 88ft square or 7750 sqft. Not very reasonable for a 1400 sqft home, as it would take up the whole plot of land. What can be done to make the distillation process more efficient? I hear intermittently spurting water on the glass helps.
Cool the glass, heat the water or both. Run a coolant line like a geothermal coil into the ground circulate it cooling the glass.
Could you speed up the process and increase the output using evaporated tubes? Doing so would also negate the need for a see thru membrane? All that matters is the collector be food grade material that will not break down with the levels of UV and heat it should experience?
My logic behind increased production is some days you will have clouds this could reduce your production so you want to cooking with grease so to speak?
I have purchased smaller evaporated tube for less ~$10 each their volume was just 20 oz but in under 45 min that 20 oz was boiling without a collector add a collector 15 min boil.
You mentioned Uranium in polluted water in Columbus.. If the water is radioactive, will distillation remove radioactivity???? Thanks.
It will separate the water and irradiated particles, so that you don’t drink them, the water itself is not the thing that is irradiated.
"Here are two magic boxes that purify water with sunlight; but, I won't show you how they're built, how bad water goes into them, nor how the bad stuff is removed from them." Fail.
yes
Not sure I would use wood since they are chemically treated to keep it from rotting and bug & fire proofing unless you cut your own tree down, I would stay away from it.
Not true. Water is full of all sorts of minerals, and thus water is a source of 'food' as well, in a way.
Have you tested the finished distilled water with a ppm meter ?
good question
where are you putting the dirty water? how do you clean it?
Just rinse it out, and use citric acid to breakdown mineral buildup
where are the diagrams for this?
Can this system work on a sunny day but below 32 degrees F?
water will evaporate at almost any temp, it's just how much... if the system is closed well, trapped area behind glass on a sunny day can go over 100 degrees F.
How do you remove salt or other impurities from the system?
Add a drain. As good water leaves the still, bad water gets concentrated at the bottom.
so how to build ?
Link to plans
is this safe to be drank?
Yes, I drink distilled water, it’s much safer than tap water.
Does this work for chemically dirty water?
Most organic chemicals including gasoline have a higher evaporation rate than water. If there's chemical contaminants they usually discard the first cup to liter of water. If there's still some in the water just run the same water back through the system and repeat the process discarding the first water produced. The bigger problem tends to be with water with strong odors. Those can be tough to remove but lightweight chemicals are less of a problem. He didn't show it but usually you do a prefilter with something like an old piece of cotton cloth like an old t-shirt. You want as much of the solids and organic matter as possible removed from the water. Sea water can be one of the easiest and the left over brine can be cooked down into salt. If you want to improve efficiency make sure there's good airflow across the surface of the glass. The temperature difference between the inside and outside of the glass is causing the condensation. You can even put a wet towel across the top. The water evaporating will cool the glass increasing output.
Cary Howe Thank you so much for the detailed breakdown. I have been doing more research on this & what you say is confirmation of it :).
Just glad it helped clarify the situation. Some of the simplest systems can be the most confusing especially when you can't look over it for yourself. I saw a video on a really nice rocket stove and heated bench set up and based on the video I couldn't tell where the outlet pipe connected to the reburn chamber. After watching it three or four times I finally caught a glimpse of it the corner of a shot. Details matter. The first time I saw this system of biochar burners I did a little head scratching until realized the weight of the drum and wood was creating a seal and the back pressure kept the oxygen from entering. Good luck with everything and glad I could help.
.... distilling removes radiation???
It removes irradiated particles, so yes, it’s not removing radiation from the particles, just separating them from the water.
any update in this project?
i'm looking forward to know, i want to know the materials, etc, because i want to build them for for free in an island.
Tell me how to make it..:-)
Nice!!
Why is this not being used EVERYWHERE?
water looses all salts... it is like distilled water... harms body...
@@flaviusnita6008 it IS distilled water and does not harm the body....you harm the comments section
will this filter out substances like lead
Yes
yes, I know it sounds gross, I'm not trying to be funny, but in a survival situation, could you distill urine? I would think you could..
You can and the water will be fine (I actually a science project that proved this!) .However, if this is your sole water source, your urine becomes thick and you get very little water out of doing this.
well, you can drink urine, so sure
Why in the world would this video show up when you search for "large scale solar water still" first of all there is nothing large about it. It has a size limit, and you are seeing it. It can only be small, it produces very little water, and cost to make enough water to provide for all of a households water needs is out of the question, as well as maintaining the multiple stills. It is old tech, and highly limited in use and size. The answer is out there, but this version is not the answer.
the principle of solar distilling remains the same. with a decent design it works, simple , elegant.
Gravity induced vacuum distillation will do what you want faster and if you add a steam turbine you can make electricity. Water boils in a vacuum at room temperatures 75 degrees F . You can make a cheap vacuum system capable of a hard vacuum of 30 inches of mercury with piping in a vertical direction 12 meters inside an open topped pipe length 10 meters. The inside pipe has valves at the top and bottom, the inside pipe is filled with seawater to the top then close top valve and open the bottom valve gravity will pull the water down leaving 2 meters worth of hard vacuum as it fills up the 10-meter outer pipe.
Now how do we get the fresh water out? We set up another vacuum pipe connect them with a condenser coil cooled with sea water and shaded from the sun taking the vaporized water from Vac A to Vac B where being a lower temp condenses to be removed at the bottom valve of Vac B. To make the system flow continuously add a spray nozzle to the top of Vac A spraying in seawater warmed by the sun after cooling the condenser coil of Vac B the spray increase the surface area making instant steam in Vac A creating fresh water as fast as in can condense in Vac B.
yeah , million dollar solution which takes 3 years , vs. 50 cents in the woods within 5 minutes.
It wouldn't take a million dollars to build my system less than a thousand dollars is very do able.
My question is. What is the temp inside the box?
i think about 60-75C or 130-160F ...
Okay thanks,
Greener Pastures other way to test the temp is to boil water on the stove and see the temp once once the steam starts to form...
Andy Chow There's no boiling going on here. Here the water is evaporating without it attaining the boiling temperature.
water evaporates at all temps. faster at higher temps, but you'll get some no matter what temp you're at...
That is not what I'm saying at all, lol. I am informing you that minerals (vitamins and nutrients) also exist in drinking water. I'll tell you something else: If you drink pure water, with NOTHING else than H2O in it, it's actually toxic for the human body. ;)
I'm not saying we should only drink water at all. You're jumping to conclusions.