## 2 Experimentation  
A conventional solar still (CSS) and modified solar still (MSS) were constructed with comparable specifications for size and operation. Plywood was used for the SSs' exterior construction. The shorter side was 20 cm tall, while the long side was 36 cm in height. The outside construction serves simply as an insulator and was only designed to prevent heat from escaping into the surroundings. Galvanized iron with dimensions of 50 cm \(\times\) 50 cm \(\times\) 0.1 cm was used to construct the inside framework of the solar still. There was a 0.25 m\({}^{2}\) surface area exposed to solar radiation. For saltwater delivery and drainage, a 1.27 cm-diameter entrance was built into the galvanized iron on the back side of the solar still. The water yield production was collected through a channel connecting to the solar still's shorter side. Figure 1 depicts the experimental setup.  
The studies were conducted in Hyderabad's climate (longitude 78.49\({}^{\circ}\) E and latitude 17.39\({}^{\circ}\) N). Banana stems were taken and sliced into the desired thicknesses and soothed with camphor. The process of camphor soothing of the banana stems is described in Figure 2. Initially, fresh banana stems were considered and washed with distilled water several times to remove the surface impurities present on them. Later, they were sliced into several pieces (stems) with variation in the required thickness. The sliced stems were washed with deionized water to clean up the microstructure surface, to become ready for soothing and were dried at room temperature. After drying, the stems were exposed to camphor soothing. For soothing of the banana stems, we considered 5 gm of camphor and kept the stems at a height of 4 cm for uniform soothing. The camphor pellets were placed in a crucible and then ignited with a matchbox; the camphor pellets began to melt instantly. Camphor fumes were formed; they grabbed the flame and began to burn vigorously above the crucible. The flame height significantly decreased after 8-9 s, although it continued to burn around the crucible's opening for 10-16 s. The banana stem was positioned over the top of the flame in order to deposit a thin layer of camphor soot on the surface of the stem. A single coating procedure iteration resulted in a very tiny film of camphor soot on the banana stems. Three such repetitions were performed, resulting in a clearly visible, thin sociating on the stems. The process was repeated to sooth all of the banana stems with the required quantity to carry out the desalination experiment.  
The desalination studies were carried out over three days by varying the thickness of the banana stems such as 0.5 cm, 1 cm, and 1.5 cm and keeping the depth of the water constant. The average diameter of the banana stems was 52 mm. The stems were arranged in the still to cover the entire basin area. Different measurement tools were used to assess the various factors that affected the SSs' performance, as indicated in Table 1. RTD sensors were utilized in each still with an accuracy of \(\pm\)0.8 \({}^{\circ}\)C; the temperatures were recorded at three separate locations using a 16-channel data logger. The points were the basin plate (T\({}_{\text{b}}\)), the water (T\({}_{\text{w}}\)), and the inner glass (T\({}_{\text{g}}\)) cover temperatures. A Hu  
Figure 1: Experimental setup.  
Figure 2: Process of camphor soothing of banana stems.  
(accuracy 10 W/m\({}^{2}\)) was utilized to monitor the solar intensity and ambient temperature. To gauge the wind speed, an anemometer with a \(\pm\)0.1 m/s accuracy was used. The water production was determined utilizing 1 L calibrated measuring jars with a 5 mL accuracy.