Performance of a single slope solar still using different porous absorbing materials: an experimental approach.

Desalination is a critical process to address water scarcity in arid regions worldwide, and solar stills provide an economical solution despite their productivity limitations. This study aimed to enhance the performance and productivity of solar stills by constructing two stills with different natural and artificial absorbing materials such as black luffa, luffa, fine steel wool, and steel wool pads. The solar stills were tested in Egypt under comparable weather conditions, and their productivity, solar intensity, wind velocity, and temperature were measured to determine their thermal efficiency and exergo-economic analysis. Results showed that the choice of absorbing material significantly impacted solar still productivity, with steel wool pads achieving the highest yield of 4.384 l/m2. Moreover, steel wool pads also exhibited the highest thermal efficiency at 32.74%. The cost per liter (CPL) was the lowest with steel wool pads at 0.0034 $/l/m2. Finally, the payback period and exergo-economic analysis demonstrated that incorporating steel wool pads was the most promising modification for enhancing solar still performance compared to other modifications.

Design of an integration platform between the water-energy nexus and a business model applied for sustainable development.

Setting out an international standard schema for the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus and providing accurate data with realistic reports for investment through a simple application is essential for our real world. This research presents a tool to help anyone who wants to invest in environmental projects, especially water, energy, or food projects. The user can directly connect to a database of environmental data applying WEF nexus principles. This paper is looking for a mechanism to apply the WEF nexus concept through a web-based platform implementing unified concepts and terminology, setting basic criteria and standards, and making the data available, consistent, and homogeneous. Based on the problem statement, the purpose of this research is to implement a cross-application for sustainable development, including WEF nexus concepts, taking into consideration the interlinkage between the three resources integrated with a business model or financial study for projects. In addition, we have determined organizational perspectives of WEF nexus, including government entities, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector, and consolidated all the concepts into one set of WEF standards. Increasing the awareness of WEF nexus will help to establish a new generation of researchers who believe in the WEF nexus concepts and who will coordinate with developers and expert consultants to convert the WEF standards to programming coding.