scholarly journals Influence of Hydraulic Pressure on Performance Deterioration of Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD) Process

Membranes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung-Min Park ◽  
Sangho Lee
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Hydraulic Pressure ◽  
Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Hydrophobic Membrane ◽  
Mass Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Efficient Operation ◽  
Direct Contact Membrane Distillation

Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) is a membrane distillation (MD) configuration where feed and distillate directly contact with a hydrophobic membrane. Depending on its operating conditions, the hydraulic pressures of the feed and distillate may be different, leading to adverse effects on the performance of the DCMD process. Nevertheless, little information is available on how hydraulic pressure affects the efficiency of DCMD. Accordingly, this paper investigates the effect of external hydraulic pressure on the process efficiency of DCMD. Gas permeabilities of MD membranes were measured to analyze the effect of membrane compaction by external pressure. Mass transfer coefficients were calculated using experimental data to quantitatively explain the pressure effect. Experiments were also carried out using a laboratory-scale DCMD set-up. After applying the pressure, the cross-sections and surfaces of the membranes were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Results showed that the membrane structural parameters such as porosity and thickness were changed under relatively high pressure conditions (>30 kPa), leading to reduction in flux. The mass transfer coefficients were also significantly influenced by the hydraulic pressure. Moreover, local wetting of the membranes were observed even below the liquid entry pressure (LEP), which decreased the rejection of salts. These results suggest that the control of hydraulic pressure is important for efficient operation of DCMD process.

scholarly journals Highly Saline Water Desalination Using Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD): Experimental and Simulation Study

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noor A. Mohammad Ameen ◽  
Salah S. Ibrahim ◽  
Qusay F. Alsalhy ◽  
Alberto Figoli
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Saline Water ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Water Desalination ◽  
System Of Nonlinear Equations ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Resistance ◽  
Direct Contact Membrane Distillation

The path for water molecules transported across a membrane in real porous membranes has been considered to be a constant factor in the membrane distillation (MD) process (i.e., constant tortuosity); as such, its effect on membrane performance at various operating conditions has been ignored by researchers. Therefore, a simultaneous heat and mass transfer model throughout the direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) module was developed in this study by taking into account the hypothetical path across the membrane as a variable factor within the operating conditions because it exhibits the changes to the mass transfer resistance across the membrane under the DCMD run. The DCMD process was described by the developed model using a system of nonlinear equations and solved numerically by MATLAB software. The performance of the poly-tetra-fluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane was examined to treat 200 g/L NaCl saline at various operating conditions. The simulation results in the present work showed that the hypothetical proposed path across the membrane has a variable value and was affected by changing the feed temperature and feed concentration. The results estimated by the developed model showed an excellent conformity with the experimental results. The salt rejection remained high (greater than 99.9%) in all cases. The temperature polarization coefficient for the DCMD ranged between 0.88 and 0.967, and the gain output ratio (GOR) was 0.893. The maximum thermal efficiency of the system was 84.5%.

scholarly journals Performance modelling of direct contact membrane distillation using a hydrophobic/hydrophilic dual-layer membrane

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inci Boztepe ◽  
Stephen Gray ◽  
Jianhua Zhang ◽  
Jun-De Li
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Thermal Efficiency ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Conductive Heat ◽  
Hydrophobic Membrane ◽  
Direct Contact Membrane Distillation ◽  
Layer Membrane

Abstract HFP-co-PVDF/N6 hydrophobic/hydrophilic dual-layer membrane was used to study desalination with direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). A one-dimensional (1-D) model was proposed to predict the flux and thermal efficiency. Heat and mass transfer equations were solved numerically for the combined hydrophilic and hydrophobic layers. The membrane characteristics of the hydrophobic layer were considered for the calculation of the mass transfer coefficients, while the hydrophilic layer was ignored since it was assumed to be filled with water. However, the hydrophilic layer was taken into account during the calculations of conductive heat transfer. Therefore, the equations are different, compared to single-layer hydrophobic membranes. It was found that with the same hydrophobic membrane characteristics, the single-layer membranes performed with better flux and thermal efficiency than the dual-layer membranes. Furthermore, the improvement of flux and thermal efficiency by an addition of the hydrophilic layer has not been observed experimentally, and it is suggested that the improved performance for dual-layer membranes reported previously is due to improved permeability by using thinner and more porous hydrophobic layers that can be mechanically reinforced by the hydrophilic layer. The validation of the model was conducted by comparing the experimental results for single- and dual-layer membranes with the modelling results. The predicted flux and thermal efficiency by the modelling were within 10% error to the experimental results.

scholarly journals Desalting of RO Waste and Drainage Water by Direct Contact Membrane Distillation

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Asrar Abdullah Hassan ◽  
Ahmed Khalid Mohammed Reda
Keyword(s):  
Fresh Water ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Membrane Surface ◽  
Membrane Distillation ◽  
Drainage Water ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Hydrophobic Membrane ◽  
Membrane Area ◽  
Direct Contact Membrane Distillation ◽  
Two Samples

Direct contact membrane distillation is an effective method for production of fresh water from saline water. In this study two samples were used as feed solutions; the first one was RO waste from Al-Hilla Coca-Cola Factory (TDS= 2382 mg/l) and the other was Haji Ali drainage water (TDS= 4127 mg/l). Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) hydrophobic membrane supported with polypropylene (PP) was used as flat sheet form with plate and frame cell. Results proved that membrane distillation is an effective technique to produce fresh water with high quality from brine with low salinity content. With membrane area of 8x8 cm2, the volume of treated water decreased from 34.97 ml at first half hour to 33.02 ml after 180 min of an experiment for first feed type and from 36.92 ml to 33.84 ml for the second feed type due to the fouling accumulated on the membrane surface. The temperature on both sides of the membrane surface and TDS of permeate was measured every 30 min of experiment time, also some tests were made on feed and permeate ions. Time of experiment was 180 min with the same operating conditions.   

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