Theoretical study and practical application of the capillary film solar distiller.

This paper presents theoretical considerations and results of experiments carried out with a capillary film multiple effect distiller. It is made up of identical evaporation-condensation cells. The brine to be evaporated is a thin film impregnating a Fabric assumed to be very thin and adhering by capillarity forces to the wall of the plate. This justifies the device name: DIstiller with a Film in CAPillary motion, it was designed and patented by R. and C. Ouahes and P. Le Goff. Its advantage resides in the reuse of latent heat of steam condensed in the one stage, for water evaporation in the subsequent stage. The research and development of this desalination process is carried out under the following aspects: modeling of heat and mass transfer, experimentation under direct solar radiation in South Algeria and technical development with the aim to optimise the efficiency of this distiller. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.