| dc.description.abstract | Freshwater, being vital for mankind survival, has become a very serious concern for the public especially living in countries with limited water, energy and economic resources. Freshwater generation is an energy-intensive task particularly when fossil based fuels are required as energy source. However, environmental concerns and high energy costs have called for the alternative and renewable sources of energy like wind, hydro, geothermal and solar etc. Since solar is the most sustainable, readily available, abundant, low-cost and maintenance free energy source, it can be the best solution to the water scarcity especially the regions of plentiful sunshine. However, the dominant use of solar energy in passive systems for water treatment requires more research and development. In this work, a literature review is conducted on the application of low cost, passive, solar driven water treatment systems for freshwater production from different contaminated water resources. The review includes water quality parameters for intended reuse, traditional water sources, description and application of alternative water sources, existing water recycling technologies, illustrative account and critical analysis of the passive solar driven water treatment systems. In last section, the three passive solar technologies; solar pasteurization, solar water disinfection and solar water distillation are
compared and the best out of three is sorted out based on cost, capacity, production and quality. | nb_NO |
