Solar desalination for water scarcity mitigation: An optimization study using Box–Behnken design and Analysis of Variance

Abstract Water scarcity is still a significant worldwide problem that calls for quick and long‐term solutions. Because of its straightforward design, low cost, and reliance on readily available solar radiation, solar desalination becomes the method of choice. In order to enable systematic evaluation and optimization, this study uniquely combines geometry‐specific solar still (SS) designs with RSM. Six SS geometries (pyramid‐shaped, square pyramid, conventional, dual‐shaped, stepped, and triangular) were examined for basin areas of 0.25 m 2 , 0.5 m 2 , and 1 m 2 using the Box–Behnken design in RSM. The main affecting parameters were found to be water depth, basin area, operating duration, and SS geometry. Results demonstrate that increasing basin area and solar still form greatly increase the dynamics of evaporation and condensation, resulting in increased freshwater output. Under ideal circumstances of 38.896°C ambient temperature, 0.01 m water depth, and single‐slope SS, the greatest water productivity observed was 1030 mL with a glass temperature of 49.71°C and an hourly production of 308.486 mL. Statistical validation confirmed model robustness, with an F‐value of 24.51, p = 0.0001, and R 2 = 0.9608 for water yield; F‐value of 13.26, p = 0.0001, and R 2 = 0.9299 for glass temperature; and F‐value of 7.61, p = 0.0003, and R 2 = 0.8839 for hourly yield. The optimized single‐slope SS with 1 m 2 basin area and 1 cm depth achieved the highest productivity (1030 mL), reaffirming solar desalination as a viable solution to water scarcity.