A stepwise model of direct contact membrane distillation for application to large-scale systems: Experimental results and model predictions

Gustafson, Ryan D.; Murphy, Joanna R.; Achilli, Andrea

doi:10.1016/j.desal.2015.09.022

Cited by 64 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Gustafson et al [54] for large scale systems was employed to obtain the temperature and flowrate profiles along the length of the membrane module. According to this approach, the membrane is divided into several sections ( Figure 1) and Equations (1) to (9) are used in conjunction with energy and mass balance for each section of the membrane module to obtain temperature and flow distribution across the membrane.…”

Section: (5)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating membrane distillation with waste heat from natural gas compressor stations for produced water treatment in Pennsylvania

et al. 2017

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Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) has immense potential in the desalination of highly saline wastewaters where reverse osmosis is not feasible. This study evaluated the potential of DCMD for treatment of produced water generated during extraction of natural gas from unconventional (shale) reservoirs. Exhaust stream from Natural Gas Compressor Station (NG CS), which has been identified as a potential waste heat source, can be used to operate DCMD thereby providing economically viable option to treat high salinity produced water. An ASPEN Plus simulation of DCMD for the desalination of produced/saline water was developed in this study and calibrated using laboratory-scale experiments. This model was used to optimize the design and operation of large scale systems and estimate energy requirements of the DCMD process. The concept of minimum temperature approach used in heat exchanger design was

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Section: (5)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating membrane distillation with waste heat from natural gas compressor stations for produced water treatment in Pennsylvania

et al. 2017

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“…This can only be estimated theoretically through MD modeling approach. The CPC is generally expressed as ratio of concentration of salt on membrane surface at the feed side (C fm ) to concentration of saline bulk feed (C fb ), as expressed in Equations 49, 50 (El-Bourawi et al, 2006;Khayet, 2011;Andrjesdóttir et al, 2013;Bouchrit et al, 2015;Gustafson et al, 2016). From experimental observations and Equation (50), it can be stated that increase in concentration of particles on membrane surface leads to an increase in CPC (El-Bourawi et al, 2006;Essalhi and Khayet, 2014;Abu-Zeid et al, 2015).…”

Section: Concentration Polarization In Modeling MD Configurationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All these configurations are based on heat and mass transfer phenomena (Khayet, 2011). Most of the bench-scale work conducted to evaluate MD process has focused on DCMD configuration due to its simplicity in structure design and process operation (Eleiwi et al, 2016;Gustafson et al, 2016); however, for field or commercial applications, the focus has been on AGMD and VMD configurations (Gude et al, 2013;Lee et al, 2015;Cheng et al, 2016;Deshpande et al, 2017;Ruiz-Aguirre et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The principal objective of MD modeling is to predict permeate flux and its dependency on MD module configuration, membrane characteristic, and MD operating parameters (Khayet et al, 2004b;Camacho et al, 2013;Khalifa, 2015;Gustafson et al, 2016). Several MD mathematical models have been developed and reported, and in many of them the temperature and concentration polarization effects have been taken into consideration (Shakaib et al, 2012;Ali et al, 2013;Alsaadi et al, 2014;Manawi et al, 2014a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Heat and Mass Transport in Modeling Membrane Distillation Configurations: A Review

2018

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Identification and mitigation of challenges associated with membrane distillation (MD) modeling are very crucial to the applicability of MD technology in the industry. Several research studies have been carried out on direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) modeling because of its simplicity, while other MD configurations have gained little attention. Most studies conducted on MD modeling were achieved based on uniform membrane pore size and pore size distribution assumption. This study exploits the homogeneity of these assumptions to conduct a modeling review for temperature polarization (TP) and concentration polarization (CP), as they apply to MD configurations. TP and CP phenomena have been identified as two of the main challenges to advance MD modeling for further development of MD technology. Their impact are detailed in the heat and mass transfer mechanisms discussed. Thermal conductivity of common hydrophobic commercial membrane materials at different temperatures are presented in this study. The use of optimal operating flow rates, suitable membranes, and proper module design are recommended as viable solutions to reduce the effect of TP and CP on permeate flux decay.

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“…MD designs resemble counter-current heat exchangers with a liquid-repelling membrane and channel on the hot fluid side [10][11][12], where heat transfer across the membrane ideally occurs mostly by evaporation and condensation of pure water [13][14][15][16][17]. Of the MD configurations developed, air gap MD (AGMD) is one of the most common and has been shown to have the greatest potential for high thermal efficiency under more saline conditions [6,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comprehensive condensation flow regimes in air gap membrane distillation: Visualization and energy efficiency

Warsinger

Swaminathan

Morales

et al. 2018

Journal of Membrane Science

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The thermal performance of air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) desalination is dominated by heat and mass transfer across the air gap between the membrane and the condensing surface. However, little is known about the impact of condensate flow patterns in some design variations of the air gap. In this study, air gap membrane distillation experiments were performed at various inlet temperatures, varying module inclination angle, condensing surface hydrophobicity, and gap spacer design to identify the effect of each on the permeate production rate and thermal efficiency of the system. Energy efficiency modeling was performed as well. Additionally, this study is one of the first with enhanced visualization of flow patterns within the air gap itself, by using a transparent, high thermal conductivity sapphire plate as the condenser surface. System-level numerical modeling is used to further understand the impact of these flow regimes on overall energy efficiency, including flux and GOR. A brief review of membrane distillation condensation regimes is provided as well. For tilting the AGMD flat-plate module, permeate flux was barely influenced except at extreme positive angles (>80ᵒ), and moderate negative angles (<-30ᵒ), where condensate fell onto the membrane surface. The surface with the hydrophobic coating (for dropwise condensation) was shown to have better droplet shedding (with very small nearly spherical droplets) and fewer droplets bridging the gap. Superhydrophobic surfaces (for jumping droplet condensation) were similar, with much smaller droplet sizes. Meanwhile, the hydrophilic surface for small gap sizes (< 3 mm) often had pinned regions of water around the hydrophilic surface and plastic spacer. Overall, the various results imply that the common assumption of a laminar condensate film poorly describes the flow patterns in real systems for all tilt angles and most spacer designs. Real system performance is likely to be between that of pure AGMD and permeate gap membrane distillation (PGMD) variants, and modeling shows that better condensing in air gaps may improve system energy efficiency significantly, with strong relative advantages at high salinity.

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A stepwise model of direct contact membrane distillation for application to large-scale systems: Experimental results and model predictions

Cited by 64 publications

References 47 publications

Integrating membrane distillation with waste heat from natural gas compressor stations for produced water treatment in Pennsylvania

Integrating membrane distillation with waste heat from natural gas compressor stations for produced water treatment in Pennsylvania

Heat and Mass Transport in Modeling Membrane Distillation Configurations: A Review

Comprehensive condensation flow regimes in air gap membrane distillation: Visualization and energy efficiency

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