Advances in seawater membrane distillation (SWMD) towards stand-alone zero liquid discharge (ZLD) desalination

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Julian ◽  
Novesa Nurgirisia ◽  
Putu Doddy Sutrisna ◽  
I. Gede Wenten
Keyword(s):  
Sea Water ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Detailed Comparison ◽  
Pilot Scale ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Water Recovery ◽  
Feed Concentration ◽  
Liquid Discharge ◽  
Salt Recovery ◽  
Push Forward

Abstract Seawater membrane distillation (SWMD) is a promising separation technology due to its ability to operate as a stand-alone desalination unit operation. This paper reviews approaches to improve laboratory-to-pilot-scale MD performance, which comprise operational strategies, module design, and specifically tailored membranes. A detailed comparison of SWMD and sea water reverse osmosis is presented to further analyze the critical shortcomings of SWMD. The unique features of SWMD, namely the ability to operate with extremely high salt rejection and at extreme feed concentration, highlight the SWMD potential to be operated under zero liquid discharge (ZLD) conditions, which results in the production of high-purity water and simultaneous salt recovery, as well as the elimination of the brine disposal cost. However, technical challenges, such as thermal energy requirements, inefficient heat transfer and integration, low water recovery factors, and lack of studies on real-case valuable-salt recovery, are impeding the commercialization of ZLD SWMD. This review highlights the possibility of applying selected strategies to push forward ZLD SWMD commercialization. Suggestions are projected to include intermittent removal of valuable salts, in-depth study on the robustness of novel membranes, module and configuration, utilization of a low-cost heat exchanger, and capital cost reduction in a renewable-energy-integrated SWMD plant.

scholarly journals Membrane Distillation Crystallization Hybrid Process for Zero Liquid Discharge in QAFCO Plant

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Gulied ◽  
Sifani Zavahir ◽  
Tasneem Elmakki ◽  
Hazim Qiblawey ◽  
Bassim Hameed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Work ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Hybrid Process ◽  
Optimum Operating ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Water Recovery ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Liquid Discharge

Qatar fertilizer company (QAFCO) is one of the world’s largest single site producer of ammonia and urea with production capacity of 12,900 metric tons per day. Currently, QAFCO faces major challenges in terms of water streams management that is generated from many processes such as wastewater from Harbor-Bosch process and brine solution from multi-stage flash (MSF) desalination process. To protect the environment; QAFCO has been making an effort to minimize the disposal of all types of water disposed into the sea. Here, this project proposes to develop a viable and economically effective process that can reach zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) of all processed water or wastewater from QAFCO facilities. The best method for ZLD is membrane distillation crystallization (MDC) hybrid process that concentrates and minimizes the volume of wastewater/brine streams to form solid through crystallizer. Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermally driven membrane process. It applies low-grade energy to create a thermal gradient across a microporous hydrophobic to vaporize water in the feed stream and condense the permeated vapor in the cold side. This research work aims to evaluate the performance of MDC for ZLD using commercial/fabricated electrospun nanofiber membrane (ENM) PVDF –base membranes at different type water streams. A general observation, higher water vapor flux and water recovery were exhibited at higher feed conductivity at 70°C. Moreover, the fabricated hydrophobic PVDF ENMs results confirmed the formation of nanofiber at the membrane surface using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, the water contact angle values of PVDF ENMs were greater than 100° and have stable mechanical and chemical properties. The ongoing research work will conduct a comparison between the optimum PVDF ENMs and the commercial MD membranes in terms of water recovery, salt rejection%, fouling/scaling, amount of collected solid and energy consumption at optimum operating conditions in MDC. In addition, it will perform a techno- economic feasibility assessment of the MDC hybrid process.

scholarly journals Brines from industrial water recycling: new ways to resource recovery

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-461
Author(s):  
Malena Kieselbach ◽  
Tobias Hogen ◽  
Sven-Uwe Geißen ◽  
Thomas Track ◽  
Dennis Becker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Wastewater ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Water Recycling ◽  
Selective Crystallization ◽  
Liquid Discharge ◽  
Monovalent Ions ◽  
Salt Recovery ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scale Design

Abstract Stricter environmental regulation policies and freshwater as an increasingly valuable resource have led to global growth of zero liquid discharge (ZLD) processes in recent years. During this development, in addition to water, the recovery of recyclable materials, e.g. salts, from industrial wastewater and brines is considered more frequently. Within the framework of the HighCon research project, the subject of this study, a new ZLD process with the goal of pure single-salt recovery from industrial wastewater has been developed and investigated in a demonstrational setup at an industrial site. With regard to pure salts recovery, separating organic components is of great importance during the treatment of the concentrate arising from used water recycling. The removal of COD and of ions responsible for scaling worked very well using nanofiltration. The nanofiltration permeate containing the monovalent ions was pre-concentrated using electrodialysis and membrane distillation before selective crystallization for single-salt recovery was performed. An example economic case study for the newly developed ZLD process – based on demonstration results and considering optimization measures for a full-scale design – indicates that the costs are equal to those of a conventional ZLD process, which, however, does not provide inter alia the aforementioned benefit of single-salt recovery.

Thermodynamic modelling of a membrane distillation crystallisation process for the treatment of mining wastewater

2015 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 557-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeeten Nathoo ◽  
Dyllon Garth Randall
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Fouling ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Calcium Sulphate ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Thermodynamic Modelling ◽  
Water Recovery ◽  
Liquid Discharge ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Mining Wastewater ◽  
Crystallisation Process

Membrane distillation (MD) could be applicable in zero liquid discharge applications. This is due to the fact that MD is applicable at high salinity ranges which are generally outside the scope of reverse osmosis (RO) applications, although this requires proper management of precipitating salts to avoid membrane fouling. One way of managing these salts is with MD crystallisation (MDC). This paper focuses on the applicability of MDC for the treatment of mining wastewater by thermodynamically modelling the aqueous chemistry of the process at different temperatures. The paper is based on the typical brine generated from an RO process in the South African coal mining industry and investigates the effect water recovery and operating temperature have on the salts that are predicted to crystallise out, the sequence in which they will crystallise out and purities as a function of the water recovery. The study confirmed the efficacy of using thermodynamic modelling as a tool for investigating and predicting the crystallisation aspects of the MDC process. The key finding from this work was that, for an MDC process, a purer product can be obtained at higher operating temperatures and recoveries because of the inverse solubility of calcium sulphate.

Performance of new generation membrane distillation membranes

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 501-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhua Zhang ◽  
Mikel Duke ◽  
Eddy Ostarcevic ◽  
Noel Dow ◽  
Stephen Gray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pore Size ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Heat Sources ◽  
Water Recovery ◽  
Operational Conditions ◽  
Small Pore

Membrane distillation has been a known desalination process for many years, but its commercial implementation has been hampered by low water fluxes and the need for low cost heat sources. With greater emphasis being placed on energy efficiency, membrane distillation coupled with waste heat or solar heat sources to drive the process is being reconsidered. In particular, the use of membrane distillation to treat brine concentrates is receiving renewed attention, as it results in increased water recovery and lower brine discharges, and high salt concentrations do not increase the driving force requirements for membrane distillation. In this paper, four different membranes, one made of polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) and three made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) of different pore sizes, were assessed the performance in membrane distillation under different hot feed flow rates and inlet temperatures. The results show that the PTFE membranes had a much higher flux than that of PVDF at the same operational conditions, and PTFE membranes of large pore size produced higher flux than that of the small pore size. The results also showed that increasing the flow rate of the hot feed and its inlet temperature increased the flux, but the rates of increase decreased with increasing flow rate and inlet feed temperature.

scholarly journals Desalination of brackish groundwater by direct contact membrane distillation

2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (8) ◽  
pp. 2013-2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Y. Hou ◽  
J. Wang ◽  
D. Qu ◽  
Z. K. Luan ◽  
C. W. Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Direct Contact ◽  
Polyvinylidene Fluoride ◽  
Membrane Surface ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Water Recovery ◽  
Permeate Flux ◽  
Feed Concentration ◽  
Direct Contact Membrane Distillation

The direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) applied for desalination of brackish groundwater with self-made polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes was presented in the paper. The PVDF membrane exhibited high rejection of non-volatile inorganic salt solutes and a maximum permeate flux 24.5 kg m−2 h−1 was obtained with feed temperature at 70°C. The DCMD experimental results indicated that the feed concentration had no significant influence on the permeate flux and the rejection of solute. When natural groundwater was used directly as the feed, the precipitation of CaCO3 would be formed and clog the hollow fibre inlets with gradual concentration of the feed, which resulted in a rapid decline of the module efficiency. The negative influence of scaling could be eliminated by acidification of the feed. Finally, a 250 h DCMD continuous desalination experiment of acidified groundwater with the concentration factor at constant 4.0 was carried out. The permeate flux kept stable and the permeate conductivity was less than 7.0 μS cm−1 during this process. Furthermore, there was no deposit observed on the membrane surface. All of these demonstrated that DCMD could be efficiently used for production of high-quality potable water from brackish groundwater with water recovery as high as 75%.

Bamboo Waste-based Bio-composite Substance: An application for Low-cost Construction Materials

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48
Author(s):  
Teodoro Astorga Amatosa ◽  
Michael E. Loretero
Keyword(s):  
Composite Materials ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Green Technology ◽  
Experimental Medium ◽  
Natural Treatment

Bamboo is a lightweight and high-strength raw materials that encouraged researchers to investigate and explore, especially in the field of biocomposite and declared as one of the green-technology on the environment as fully accountable as eco-products. This research was to assess the technical feasibility of making single-layer experimental Medium-Density Particleboard panels from the bamboo waste of a three-year-old (Dendrocalamus asper). Waste materials were performed to produce composite materials using epoxy resin (C21H25C105) from a natural treatment by soaking with an average of pH 7.6 level of sea-water. Three different types of MDP produced, i.e., bamboo waste strip MDP (SMDP), bamboo waste chips MDP (CMDP) and bamboo waste mixed strip-chips MDP (MMDP) by following the same process. The experimental panels tested for their physical-mechanical properties according to the procedures defined by ASTM D1037-12. Conclusively, even the present study shows properties of MDP with higher and comparable to other composite materials; further research must be given better attention as potential substitute to be used as hardwood materials, especially in the production, design, and construction usage.

scholarly journals Development of mass and heat transfer coupled model of hollow fiber membrane for salt recovery from brine via osmotic membrane distillation

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sher Ahmad ◽  
Gabriela Vollet Marson ◽  
Waheed Ur Rehman ◽  
Mohammad Younas ◽  
Sarah Farrukh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Mass Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Heat And Mass Transfer ◽  
Hollow Fiber ◽  
Hollow Fiber Membrane ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Fiber Membrane ◽  
Salt Recovery ◽  
Osmotic Solution

Abstract Background In this research work, a coupled heat and mass transfer model was developed for salt recovery from concentrated brine water through an osmotic membrane distillation (OMD) process in a hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC).The model was built based on the resistance-in-series concept for water transport across the hydrophobic membrane. The model was adopted to incorporate the effects of polarization layers such as temperature and concentration polarization, as well as viscosity changes during concentration. Results The modeling equations were numerically simulated in MATLAB® and were successfully validated with experimental data from literature with a deviation within the range of 1–5%. The model was then applied to study the effects of key process parameters like feed concentrations, osmotic solution concentration, feed, and osmotic solution flow rates and feed temperature on the overall heat and mass transfer coefficient as well as on water transport flux to improve the process efficiency. The mass balance modeling was applied to calculate the membrane area based on the simulated mass transfer coefficient. Finally, a scale-up for the MD process for salt recovery on an industrial scale was proposed. Conclusions This study highlights the effect of key parameters for salt recovery from wastewater using the membrane distillation process. Further, the applicability of the OMD process for salt recovery on large scale was investigated. Sensitivity analysis was performed to identify the key parameters. From the results of this study, it is concluded that the OMD process can be promising in salt recovery from wastewater.

High‐Yield and Low‐Cost Solar Water Purification via Hydrogel‐Based Membrane Distillation

2021 ◽  
pp. 2101036
Author(s):  
Hengyi Lu ◽  
Wen Shi ◽  
Fei Zhao ◽  
Wenjing Zhang ◽  
Peixin Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Purification ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
High Yield ◽  
Solar Water

Performance and Water Consumption of the Solar Steam-Injection Gas Turbine Cycle

2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Livshits ◽  
Abraham Kribus
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Water Recovery ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Improved Model ◽  
Hybrid Cycle

Solar heat at moderate temperatures around 200 °C can be utilized for augmentation of conventional steam-injection gas turbine power plants. Solar concentrating collectors for such an application can be simpler and less expensive than collectors used for current solar power plants. We perform a thermodynamic analysis of this hybrid cycle, focusing on improved modeling of the combustor and the water recovery condenser. The cycle's water consumption is derived and compared to other power plant technologies. The analysis shows that the performance of the hybrid cycle under the improved model is similar to the results of the previous simplified analysis. The water consumption of the cycle is negative due to water production by combustion, in contrast to other solar power plants that have positive water consumption. The size of the needed condenser is large, and a very low-cost condenser technology is required to make water recovery in the solar STIG cycle technically and economically feasible.

Sodium Regulation in the Amphipod Gammarus Duebeni Lilljeborg form Freshwater Localities in Ireland

1968 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-358
Author(s):  
D. W. SUTCLIFFE ◽  
J. SHAW
Keyword(s):  
Fresh Water ◽  
Loss Rate ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Detailed Comparison ◽  
Urine Concentration ◽  
Sodium Influx ◽  
Fresh Waters ◽  
Low Sodium ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Sodium Regulation

1. A quantitative study of sodium influx and loss was made on populations of Gammarus duebeni obtained from four freshwater localities in Ireland. 2. Characteristic features of sodium regulation in animals from the four localities were as follows, (a) The sodium influx increases gradually with increasing external sodium concentrations, but a maximum (saturation) level is abruptly reached at an external concentration of 1-2 mM/l. and the transporting system is half saturated at about 0.5 mM/l. sodium, (b) Over the range of sodium concentrations found in fresh waters a low rate of sodium uptake is sufficient to balance sodium losses at concentrations down to between 0.5 and 0.25 mM/l. At lower concentrations the influx is increased and the loss rate is reduced. (c) Calculations suggest that hypotonic urine containing approximately 40 mM/l sodium is produced at external concentrations ranging from fresh water to 40 % sea water. At external concentrations below 0.25 mM/l. sodium the urine concentration is probably reduced to well below 40 mM/l. sodium. 3. A detailed comparison is made of sodium regulation at external concentrations ranging between 0.07 and 1 mM/l. sodium in G. duebeni from fresh water in Ireland and from fresh water and brackish water in Britain. It is suggested that G. duebeni in Ireland constitutes a distinct physiological race adapted for living in fresh waters with relatively low sodium concentrations.

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