E-WATER DISTILLATION SYSTEM: AN ARDUINO MEGA 2560-BASED PORTABLE WATER QUALITY MONITORING AND DISTILLATION APPARATUS FOR SAFE DRINKING WATER PRODUCTION
Access to safe and potable water remains a critical public health challenge in the Philippines, particularly in rural communities where waterborne disease transmission is exacerbated by inadequate water treatment infrastructure. This paper presents the design, development, and evaluation of a Portable E-Water Distillation System that employs a nichrome wire heating element integrated with an Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller and a suite of water quality sensors, including pH, turbidity, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), temperature, and water level sensors, to automate the distillation process and continuously monitor the quality of distilled water output. The system was evaluated using tap water collected from the College of Engineering and Architecture at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP-CEA). Experimental results demonstrated that following a single-pass distillation cycle, the system achieved a turbidity reading of 4.7 NTU, a pH of 6.8, and a temperature of 26°C, all within the acceptable limits prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, the TDS measurement of 741 ppm remained above the WHO minimum acceptable concentration of 500 mg/L, indicating that a single thermal distillation pass is insufficient to reduce dissolved solids to potable standards. A closed-loop feedback mechanism was successfully implemented, automatically recycling water that did not meet quality thresholds back to the distillation chamber. The system demonstrated functional sensor integration, real-time parameter monitoring via a 16×2 LCD display, and automatic dispensing control through relay-actuated water pumps. Key limitations identified include extended distillation cycle time, heating element overheating risk, and TDS reduction insufficiency. Future improvements include multi-stage filtration, solar power integration, and chemical disinfection supplementation.
Keywords: water distillation system, Arduino Mega 2560, water quality monitoring, TDS, turbidity, pH sensor, IoT, embedded systems, safe drinking water.