Author(s): K. Syed Jafar, R. Venkatesaperumal, K. Murugan, T.V. Rajamurugan, V. Venkatesan

Abstract: The current experimental study compares the working performance of different solar still (Single slope, Double slope, pyramid) using various percentage of Al2O3 nanofluids. The experimental works are conducted in each solar still separately using same size (1m x 0.7m x 0.1m) basin with different concentration (0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%) of Al2O3 nanofluids on volume basis with 15kg of water. It is noted that 0.3% volume concentration of Al2O3 nanofluids used in SSSS, DSSS, PSS gives the maximum productivity of 3.150 litres, 3.360 litres, 3.520 litres per day respectively. The present work concluded that the use of Al2O3 nanofluids considerably enhance the heat transfer rate and evaporation rate, hence the yield is improved.