Development of Briquette-Powered Water Distiller

Abstract

Human beings can survive for weeks without food but the possibility of man being able to live without water for a few numbers of days is slim. Hence, the need for potable water is of great importance to man as poor quality of water and unsatisfactory sanitation are seriously dangerous to man. Therefore, this study is aimed at developing a briquette-powered water distiller which will produce drinkable water for human consumption and hence reduce death occurrences due to poor water quality. The briquettes were made using carbonized sawdust and gelatinized starch mixed together uniformly in the proportion of 4479.2 cm3 of the carbonized sawdust to 306.06 cm3 of the gelatinized starch. Afterwards, the combustion chamber which consisted of the stove rest, ash filter, fuel rack and riser was fabricated. The stainless steel pot had a frustum shape with its height, larger and smaller diameters were 16.5 cm, 36.0 cm and 25.0 cm respectively. While the lengths were both 100 cm. The material for the inner pipe was stainless steel whereas that of the outer pipe was galvanized mild steel. It was observed that the gross calorific value of the briquettes produced was20.3 kJ/kg while 4.91 litres of standard potable water was produced from 10 litres of feed water.