Investigation of Techno-Economical Replacement of Solar Distillation Systems with Household Water Purifiers

Drinking water supply in the household consumption sector has always been emphasized due to its direct impact on human health. One of the common methods to reduce soluble solid pollutants that is used in many parts of the country, is the use of household water purifiers. Despite the usefulness of filters in these devices which need to be replaced at regular intervals, they waste 70-80% of piped water by transferring it to sewage due to their mechanism of action based on reverse osmosis. In contrast, there are solar distillation systems that produce distilled water using solar energy. The use of solar distillation systems has a high potential to provide quality drinking water for sparsely populated areas and hot weather due to its prevention of water loss, easy use and long life. The purpose of this research was to Techno-economic study the use of household water purifiers and solar distillation system to achieve quality and potable water in homes, as well as to analyze the sensitivity of water cost, operating cost and increase the initial fixed cost. The results show that despite the higher initial cost of the solar distillation system, the cost of using these systems in the long run is more economical, and the water loss for these systems can be ignored.