Water can also be distilled to obtain safe water to drink and cook with. Typically it involves removing the salt from seawater, which makes up over 95% of the water on the planet, but is also useful in removing contaminants. Most approaches use an evaporation technique. The saltwater is evaporated and recaptured as fresh water. Several systems are now using the sun's energy for the evaporation.

A compact solar still example is the Eliodomestico Solar Still. An Israeli company, SunDwater has developed a system capable of 400 liters of fresh water each sunny day, which uses a four sq. meter parabolic solar reflector to concentrate a high temperature focus on the seawater vessel. New water is constantly pumped back into the closed system as the water evaporates.

See alsoEdit

• Eliodomestico Solar Still

External linksEdit

• Solar stills at Build It Solar
• http://www.solarpurewater.com
• A Simple Solar Oven Makes Salt Water Drinkable