High water recovery of RO brine using multi-stage air gap membrane distillation

Geng, Hongxin; Wang, Juan; Zhang, Chunyao; Li, Pingli; Chang, Ho

doi:10.1016/j.desal.2014.10.038

Cited by 60 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Efforts are currently done to find more environmentally friendly and economically feasible options to solve this issue [515]. Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) or near Zero Liquid Discharge operations are developed to reduce the brine volume, either by thermal means (like evaporators and crystallizers) or by integration of processes (like forward osmosis [516], membrane distillation [517], or electrodialysis [518]). Possible brine treatment options include reducing/eliminating brine disposal, salt recovery, and brine industrial use [515].…”

Section: Technological Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reverse osmosis desalination: A state-of-the-art review

et al. 2019

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Water scarcity is a grand challenge that has always stimulated research interests in finding effective means for pure water production. In this context, reverse osmosis (RO) is considered the leading and the most optimized membrane-based desalination process that is currently dominating the desalination market. In this review, various aspects of RO desalination are reviewed. Theories and models related to concentration polarization and membrane transport, as well as merits and drawbacks of these models in predicting polarization effects, are discussed. An updated review of studies related to membrane modules (plate and frame, tubular, spiral wound, and hollow fiber) and membrane characterization are provided. The review also discusses membrane cleaning and different pre-treatment technologies in place for RO desalination, such as feed-water pre-treatment and biocides. RO pre-treatment technologies, which include conventional (e.g., coagulationflocculation, media filtration, disinfection, scale inhibition) and non-conventional (e.g., MF, UF, and NF) are reviewed and their relative attributes are compared. As per the available literature, UF, MF and coagulation-flocculation are considered the most widely used pre-treatment technologies. In addition, this review discusses membrane fouling, which represents a serious challenge in RO processes due to its significant contribution to energy requirements and process economy (e.g., flux decline, permeate quality, membrane lifespan, increased feed pressure, increased pre-treatment and membrane maintenance cost). Different membrane fouling types, such as colloidal, organic, inorganic, and biological fouling, are addressed in this review. Principles of RO process design and the embedded economic and energy considerations are discussed. In general, cost of water desalination has dropped to values that made it a viable option, comparable even to conventional water treatment methods. Finally, an overview of hybrid RO desalination processes and the current challenges faced by RO desalination processes are presented and discussed.

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Section: Technological Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reverse osmosis desalination: A state-of-the-art review

et al. 2019

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“…Therefore, compared to RO, the water flux in MD is not affected to the same extent when the salinity of the feed solution (and thus its osmotic pressure) increases. As a result, a potential application of MD is arguably for the treatment of hypersaline solutions, and specifically the brine generated during RO desalination [10,[16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling control during membrane distillation of coal seam gas reverse osmosis brine

Duong

Gray

Duke

et al. 2015

Journal of Membrane Science

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We systematically assess the efficiency of chemical cleaning and report a simple but elegant approach to control scaling during membrane distillation (MD) of brine from reverse osmosis (RO) treatment of coal seam gas (CSG) produced water. Results reported here show that increased feed water salinity and the permeation of CO2 from the feed solution resulted in only a small and gradual decrease in water flux. On the other hand, the precipitation of sparingly soluble salts on the membrane at high water recovery (>70%) led to a significant flux decline. Among the three chemical cleaning agents investigated, a reverse osmosis scale cleaning agent (denoted as MC3) was the most effective at restoring the water flux; however, MC3 cleaning was not able to completely remove scale deposits from the membrane and restore its surface hydrophobicity to the original value because of the complexation of scalants with CSG RO brine. The remaining scalants (i.e., silicates) reduced the membrane surface hydrophobicity and could possibly enhance concentration polarisation and act as seeding for further scale formation. Thus, a gradual decrease in MD performance with respect to both water flux and salt leakage was observed after each MC3 cleaning cycle. It was noted that the chemical cleaning agents themselves did not alter the hydrophobicity of the membrane; thus, the gradual decline in MD performance was attributed to the remaining scale deposits on the membrane after each cleaning cycle. Results reported here highlight the need to prevent membrane scaling and only use chemical cleaning as the last resort during MD treatment of CSG RO brine. Moreover, membrane scaling could be prevented by reducing concentration polarisation via limiting feed temperature and thus water flux. MD treatment of CSG RO brine with up to 80% water recovery without any observable membrane scaling was achieved at the feed temperature and the water flux of 35°C and 10L/m 2 h, respectively. AbstractWe systematically assess the efficiency of chemical cleaning and report a simple but elegant approach to control scaling during membrane distillation (MD) of brine from reverse osmosis (RO) treatment of coal seam gas (CSG) produced water. Results reported here show that increased feed water salinity and the permeation of CO 2 from the feed solution resulted in only a small and gradual decrease in water flux. On the other hand, the precipitation of sparingly soluble salts on the membrane at high water recovery (>70%) led to a significant flux decline. Among the three chemical cleaning agents investigated, a reverse osmosis scale cleaning agent (denoted as MC3) was the most effective at restoring the water flux; however, MC3 cleaning was not able to completely remove scale deposits from the membrane and restore its surface hydrophobicity to the original value because of the complexation of scalants with CSG RO brine. The remaining scalants (i.e., silicates) reduced the membrane surface hydrophobicity and could possibly enhance concentration polarisation and ...

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“…The energy required for the concentrate treatment depends on the deployed technology, as thermal crystallizers and brine concentrators are known to use a considerable amount of energy [22]. However, this may be effectively controlled by mixing concentrate streams with low-salinity effluents such as cooling water to ensure safe discharge to a water body, optimizing fresh water recovery through a multi-stage desalination step and recovery of valuable products from the concentrate [17,[23][24][25]. In addition, the generation of electric power from the osmotic potential of reject brine could open another vista of opportunities for renewable energy generation via pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) [26].…”

Section: Fig 1 Decreasing Available Fresh Water Resources Per Head mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomimetic membranes: A critical review of recent progress

et al. 2017

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A membrane material that can concurrently provide commercially acceptable levels of water permeability, high salt rejection, and of sufficient stability to withstand mechanical and chemical stresses seems to be necessary to guarantee the energy and environmental sustainability of desalination systems and other membrane separation processes. Recent developments in desalination have shown that bio-inspired membranes are moving steadily in this direction. Sustainable desalination via aquaporin-based bio-inspired membranes is elucidated in this paper in terms of recent commercialization exploitation and progress towards real operations. Current large-scale applications, viable opportunities, remaining challenges and sustainability of operations, in terms of comparison with established technologies, are discussed in this paper. The major drawback of aquaporin-based membranes, which has been highlighted repeatedly in recent studies, is the stability of the membranes during real operations. This review is focused on recent solutions provided by scientists towards the mitigation of these problems and commercialization of aquaporin-based membranes.

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High water recovery of RO brine using multi-stage air gap membrane distillation

Cited by 60 publications

References 29 publications

Reverse osmosis desalination: A state-of-the-art review

Reverse osmosis desalination: A state-of-the-art review

Scaling control during membrane distillation of coal seam gas reverse osmosis brine

Biomimetic membranes: A critical review of recent progress

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