Desalination by a “compact SMADES” autonomous solarpowered membrane distillation unit

Banat, Fawzi; Jwaied, Nesreen; Rommel, Matthias; Koschikowski, Joachim; Wieghaus, Marcel

doi:10.1016/j.desal.2006.11.028

Cited by 199 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The stable distillate production rate (which indicates the absence of any membrane fouling) observed in this experiment can be also attributed to the low total organic carbon concentration of the seawater feed (i.e., 2 mg/L) and low operating permeate flux (i.e., 1.0 L/m 2 -h). The results reported here are consistent with previous studies, in which MD was reported to be able to desalt seawater without any intensive chemical pre-treatment for months of operation [34,35]. Throughout the experiment, the STEC and GOR of the system slightly varied from 90 to 95 kWh/m 3 and 6.5 to 7, respectively, while the SEEC of the system remained stable at 0.13 kWh/m 3 (Fig.…”

Section: Pilot Agmd Process Of Seawatersupporting

confidence: 82%

Evaluating energy consumption of air gap membrane distillation for seawater desalination at pilot scale level

Duong

Cooper

Nelemans³

et al. 2016

Separation and Purification Technology

167

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This study aimed to optimise an air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) system for seawater desalination with respect to distillate production as well as thermal and electrical energy consumption. Pilot evaluation data shows a notable influence of evaporator inlet temperature and water circulation rate on process performance. An increase in both distillate production rate and energy efficiency could be obtained by increasing the evaporator inlet temperature. On the other hand, there was a trade-off between the distillate production rate and energy efficiency when the water circulation rate varied. Increasing the water circulation rate resulted in an improvement in the distillate production rate, but also an increase in both specific thermal and electrical energy consumption. Given the small driving force used in the pilot AGMD, discernible impact of feed salinity on process performance could be observed, while the effects of temperature and concentration polarisation were small. At the optimum operating conditions identified in this study, a stable AGMD operation for seawater desalination could be achieved with specific thermal and electrical energy consumption of 90 and 0.13 kW h/m3, respectively. These values demonstrate the commercial viability of AGMD for smallscale and off-grid seawater desalination where solar thermal or low-grade heat sources are readily available. Abstract: This study aimed to optimise an air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) process for seawater desalination with respect to distillate production as well as thermal and electrical energy consumption. Pilot evaluation data shows a notable influence of evaporator inlet temperature and water circulation rate on process performance. An increase in both distillate production rate and energy efficiency could be obtained by increasing the evaporator inlet temperature. On the other hand, there was a trade-off between the distillate production rate and energy efficiency when the water circulation rate varied. Increasing the water circulation rate resulted in an improvement in the distillate production rate, but also an increase in both specific thermal and electrical energy consumption. Given the small driving force used in the pilot AGMD, discernible impact of feed salinity on process performance could be observed, while the effects of temperature and concentration polarisation were small. At the optimum operating conditions identified in this study, a stable AGMD operation for seawater desalination could be achieved with specific thermal and electrical energy consumption of 90 and 0.13 kWh/m 3 , respectively. These values demonstrate the commercial viability of AGMD for small-scale and off-grid seawater desalination where solar thermal or low-grade heat sources are readily available.

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Section: Pilot Agmd Process Of Seawatersupporting

confidence: 82%

Evaluating energy consumption of air gap membrane distillation for seawater desalination at pilot scale level

Duong

Cooper

Nelemans³

et al. 2016

Separation and Purification Technology

167

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…cracks) within the membrane structure [24]. In most cases, the damage was associated with a deterioration of the distillate quality (lower salt rejection) [22,23,35,57,77]. The most frequently reported membrane damage when scaling occurs during MD is the formation of a scale layer on the membrane's top surface in contact with the feed (Figure 6).…”

Section: Membrane Damage and Chemical Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, for years it was widely accepted that MD has this described ability to withstand dryout from intermittent operation. In fact, this is how most solar-powered MD plants operated, intermittently (shutting down overnight) and allowing the membranes to fall dry for hours every day [21,22,23,24]. Intermittent operation can also result from unstable solar conditions or an uneven distribution of flux [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling and fouling in membrane distillation for desalination applications: A review

et al. 2015

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“…Commercial membranes have been significantly improved since the development of the MD process and are now used in several recent pilot plant studies [10,12,[19][20][21][22][23]. The important characteristics required for a good MD membrane such as excellent chemical resistance, good thermal stability, high liquid entry pressure (LEP), low thermal conductivity, high porosity, high hydrophobicity, and narrow pore size distribution have been reported extensively [3,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36].…”

Section: Compared To Other Conventional Desalination Processes Such Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance evaluation of the DCMD desalination process under bench scale and large scale module operating conditions

Francis

Ghaffour

Alsaadi

et al. 2014

Journal of Membrane Science

126

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The flux performance of different hydrophobic microporous flat sheet commercial membranes made of poly tetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and poly propylene (PP) was tested for Red Sea water desalination using the direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process, under bench scale (high ΔT) and large scale module (low ΔT) operating conditions. Membranes were characterized for their surface morphology, water contact angle, thickness, porosity, pore size and pore size distribution. The DCMD process performance was optimized using a locally designed and fabricated module aiming to maximize the flux at different levels of operating parameters, mainly feed water and coolant inlet temperatures at different temperature difference across the membrane (ΔT). Water vapor flux of 88.8 kg/m 2 h was obtained using a PTFE membrane at high ΔT (60 °C). In addition, the flux performance was compared to the first generation of a new locally synthesized and fabricated membrane made of a different class of polymer under the same conditions. A total salt rejection of 99.99% and boron rejection of 99.41% were achieved under the extreme operating conditions. On the other hand, a detailed water characterization revealed that low molecular weight non-ionic molecules (ppb level) were transported with the water vapor molecules through the membrane structure. The membrane which provided the highest flux was then tested under large scale module operating conditions. The average flux of the latter study (low ΔT) was found to be eight times lower than that of the bench scale (high ΔT) operating conditions.

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Desalination by a “compact SMADES” autonomous solarpowered membrane distillation unit

Cited by 199 publications

References 5 publications

Evaluating energy consumption of air gap membrane distillation for seawater desalination at pilot scale level

Evaluating energy consumption of air gap membrane distillation for seawater desalination at pilot scale level

Scaling and fouling in membrane distillation for desalination applications: A review

Performance evaluation of the DCMD desalination process under bench scale and large scale module operating conditions

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