Gypsum scaling in membrane distillation: Impacts of temperature and vapor flux

Desalination ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 525 ◽  
pp. 115499
Author(s):  
Kofi S.S. Christie ◽  
Thomas Horseman ◽  
Ruoyu Wang ◽  
Chunlei Su ◽  
Tiezheng Tong ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
Umar F. Alqsair ◽  
Ahmed M. Alshwairekh ◽  
Anas M. Alwatban ◽  
Robert Krysko ◽  
Alparslan Oztekin

Abstract Computational fluid dynamics simulations are conducted to compare the effect of module length in sweeping gas and direct contact membrane distillation systems for seawater desalination processes. In this work, the effect of temperature and concentration on the flux performance and temperature and concentration polarization characteristics are studied. CFD simulations are conducted in a three-dimensional module to characterize the steady-state velocity, temperature, and concentration field in the feed and permeate channel. The Reynolds number for the feed and the permeate stream is set to 500 and 1500, and thus the laminar flow model is adapted for each channel. The membrane properties are fixed in all cases considered. It is revealed that the local variation of the vapor flux, TPC, and CPC varies with module length in SGMD systems. However, the average values along the membrane in both module lengths do not vary much. Remedies for mitigating temperature polarization should be considered for future studies.


2013 ◽  
Vol 448 ◽  
pp. 240-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijo Francis ◽  
Noreddine Ghaffour ◽  
Ahmad A. Alsaadi ◽  
Gary L. Amy

Author(s):  
Abdulaziz M. Alasiri ◽  
Umar Alqsair ◽  
Sertac Cosman ◽  
Robert Krysko ◽  
Alparslan Oztekin

Abstract The demand for freshwater has been increased globally. Membrane distillation (MD) technique can be an attractive option for desalination applications. MD is defined as a thermal-driven separation process that implements a hydrophobic membrane for allowing only water vapor transport through the membrane. VMD system is investigated in this study to examine its sensitivity toward the channel design. PTFE membrane is employed and treated as a functional surface where its main properties, such as porosity, tortuosity, pore diameter, and membrane thickness are defined. Different flow rates and inlet temperatures of the feed solution are involved to intensely study the effect of the channel length on VMD performance. The local concentration and temperature polarization coefficient and mass flux along the membrane surface are presented and discussed. With the increasing length of the module, concentration and temperature polarization levels are increased, and the vapor flux is decreased. It is shown that the permeate flux decreases linearly with the channel length. The slope of the permeate flux with length can be used to estimate the flux performance of modules with varying length.


Desalination ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 486 ◽  
pp. 114493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangshu Qu ◽  
Zhongsen Yan ◽  
Huarong Yu ◽  
Gongduan Fan ◽  
Heliang Pang ◽  
...  

Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashok K. Sharma ◽  
Adam Juelfs ◽  
Connor Colling ◽  
Saket Sharma ◽  
Stephen P. Conover ◽  
...  

High water vapor flux at low brine temperatures without surface fouling is needed in membrane distillation-based desalination. Brine crossflow over surface-modified hydrophobic hollow fiber membranes (HFMs) yielded fouling-free operation with supersaturated solutions of scaling salts and their precipitates. Surface modification involved an ultrathin porous polyfluorosiloxane or polysiloxane coating deposited on the outside of porous polypropylene (PP) HFMs by plasma polymerization. The outside of hydrophilic MicroPES HFMs of polyethersulfone was also coated by an ultrathin coating of porous plasma-polymerized polyfluorosiloxane or polysiloxane rendering the surface hydrophobic. Direct contact membrane distillation-based desalination performances of these HFMs were determined and compared with porous PP-based HFMs. Salt concentrations of 1, 10, and 20 wt% were used. Leak rates were determined at low pressures. Surface and cross-sections of two kinds of coated HFMs were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. The HFMs based on water-wetted MicroPES substrate offered a very thin gas gap in the hydrophobic surface coating yielding a high flux of 26.4–27.6 kg/m2-h with 1 wt% feed brine at 70 °C. The fluxes of HFMs on porous PP substrates having a long vapor diffusion path were significantly lower. Coated HFM performances have been compared with flat hydrophilic membranes of polyvinylidene fluoride having a similar plasma-polymerized hydrophobic polyfluorosiloxane coating.


Author(s):  
Anas M. Alwatban ◽  
Ahmed M. Alshwairekh ◽  
Umar F. Alqsair ◽  
Robert Krysko ◽  
Abdullah A. Alghafis ◽  
...  

Abstract Computational fluid dynamics simulations are used to model the effect of the inlet feed temperature in direct contact membrane distillation modules. Embedded spacers are used as a local mixing promoter tool. Net-type spacers of angle 45° are used as spacers. The presence of the spacers will mitigate the temperature and concentration polarization effects. The calculation of the vapor flux through the membrane is based on the Dusty-Gas model. The membrane is considered as a functional surface, and the embedded spacers are treated as impermeable surfaces. The vapor flux equation couples the variation of the vapor flux in the feed and the permeate channel with the variation of the feed concentration along the membrane. The flow is considered turbulent in channels containing embedded spacers. The k–ω SST turbulent model is used to characterize the steady-state turbulent structures inside the flow channels. The flow rate in the feed and the permeate channels is fixed. The membrane properties are also fixed. The inlet feed temperature is varying while fixing the inlet permeate temperature. The results indicate that the embedded spacers increase the vapor flux permeation while the temperature and concentration polarizations are mitigated. As the inlet feed temperature is increased, the effect of the embedded spacers becomes more significant.


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