Membrane distillation at the water-energy nexus: limits, opportunities, and challenges

Deshmukh, Akshay; Boo, Chanhee; Karanikola, Vasiliki; Lin, Shihong; Straub, Anthony P.; Tong, Tiezheng; Warsinger, David M.; Elimelech, Menachem

doi:10.1039/c8ee00291f

Cited by 856 publications

(508 citation statements)

References 207 publications

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“…[162][163][164] During typical MD configuration, a porous hydrophobic membrane acts as the core component to effectively separate hot feed and cold distillate. [162][163][164] During typical MD configuration, a porous hydrophobic membrane acts as the core component to effectively separate hot feed and cold distillate.…”

Section: Photothermal-assisted Membrane Distillationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harnessing Solar‐Driven Photothermal Effect toward the Water–Energy Nexus

et al. 2019

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Producing affordable freshwater has been considered as a great societal challenge, and most conventional desalination technologies are usually accompanied with large energy consumption and thus struggle with the trade‐off between water and energy, i.e., the water–energy nexus. In recent decades, the fast development of state‐of‐the‐art photothermal materials has injected new vitality into the field of freshwater production, which can effectively harness abundant and clean solar energy via the photothermal effect to fulfill the blue dream of low‐energy water purification/harvesting, so as to reconcile the water–energy nexus. Driven by the opportunities offered by photothermal materials, tremendous effort has been made to exploit diverse photothermal‐assisted water purification/harvesting technologies. At this stage, it is imperative and important to review the recent progress and shed light on the future trend in this multidisciplinary field. Here, a brief introduction of the fundamental mechanism and design principle of photothermal materials is presented, and the emerging photothermal applications such as photothermal‐assisted water evaporation, photothermal‐assisted membrane distillation, photothermal‐assisted crude oil cleanup, photothermal‐enhanced photocatalysis, and photothermal‐assisted water harvesting from air are summarized. Finally, the unsolved challenges and future perspectives in this field are emphasized. It is envisioned that this work will help arouse future research efforts to boost the development of solar‐driven low‐energy water purification/harvesting.

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Section: Photothermal-assisted Membrane Distillationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harnessing Solar‐Driven Photothermal Effect toward the Water–Energy Nexus

et al. 2019

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“…The specific mass flow rate (J*, kg s −1 m −2 ) of water vapor through the membrane is evaluated by Maxwell-Stefan and Dusty-Gas models (26)(27)(28). The Maxwell-Stefan model considers the gradient in chemical potential and the molecular diffusion (namely, the interaction between gas molecules), while the Dusty-Gas model takes into account the viscous flow and the Knudsen diffusion (namely, the interaction between gas molecules and the porous matrix of membrane).…”

Section: Lumped Parameter Model: Mass Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

Multistage and passive cooling process driven by salinity difference

et al. 2020

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Space cooling in buildings is anticipated to rise because of an increasing thermal comfort demand worldwide, and this calls for cost-effective and sustainable cooling technologies. We present a proof-of-concept multistage device, where a net cooling capacity and a temperature difference are demonstrated as long as two water solutions at disparate salinity are maintained. Each stage is made of two hydrophilic layers separated by a hydrophobic membrane. An imbalance in water activity in the two layers naturally causes a non-isothermal vapor flux across the membrane without requiring any mechanical ancillaries. One prototype of the device developed a specific cooling capacity of up to 170 W m −2 at a vanishing temperature difference, considering a 3.1 mol/kg calcium chloride solution. To provide perspective, if successfully up-scaled, this concept may help satisfy at least partially the cooling needs in hot, humid regions with naturally available salinity gradients.(11), eaax5015. 6 Sci Adv ARTICLE TOOLS

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“…MD offers a great potential to treat shale gas water since the separation occurs below the normal boiling point of the inlet stream, therefore, it is possible to use waste heat to induce the separation (Ashoor et al, 2016;Drioli et al, 2015). This technology is especially advantageous in remote unconventional hydrocarbon extraction sites where electrical energy supply is not available and many waste heating sources are present, such as geothermal heat energy process facilities, or flaring (Chafidz et al, 2016;Deshmukh et al, 2018;Elsayed et al, 2015;Kim et al, 2017;Omkar R. Lokare et al, 2017). Furthermore, MD is also very attractive for this application due to its mobility, modularity, and compactness, contrasting with conventional thermal desalination processes which involve a huge physical footprint (Silva et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a later work , the same authors highlighted the applicability of DCMD for treating shale gas water by evaluating the economic feasibility. Recently, Deshmukh et al (2018) highlighted the advantages of MD for small-scale desalination applications and emphasized the benefits for desalinating shale gas water. However, they remark that the viability of MD as an energy-efficient treatment remains uncertain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of multistage membrane distillation system for treating shale gas produced water

et al. 2019

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Thermal membrane distillation (MD) is an emerging technology to desalinate highsalinity wastewaters, including shale gas produced water to reduce the corresponding water footprint of fracturing operations. In this work, we introduce a rigorous optimization model with energy recovery for the synthesis of multistage direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) system. The mathematical model (implemented in GAMS software) is formulated via generalized disjunctive programming (GDP) and mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP). To maximize the total amount of water recovered, the outflow brine is fixed close to salt saturation conditions (300 g·kg -1 water) approaching zero liquid discharge (ZLD).A sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the system's behavior under different uncertainty sources such as the heat source availability and inlet salinity conditions. The results emphasize the applicability of this promising technology, especially with low steam cost or waste heat, and reveal variable costs and system configurations depending on inlet conditions. For a produced water salinity ranging from 150 g·kg -1 water to 250 g·kg -1 water based on Marcellus play, an optimal treating cost are between 11.5 and 4.4 US$ m -3 is obtained when using low-cost steam. This cost can decrease to 2.8 US$ m -3 when waste heat from shale gas operations is used.

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Membrane distillation at the water-energy nexus: limits, opportunities, and challenges

Abstract: This critical review investigates the potential for membrane distillation to desalinate high-salinity waters using low-grade heat at the water-energy nexus.

Cited by 856 publications

References 207 publications

Harnessing Solar‐Driven Photothermal Effect toward the Water–Energy Nexus

Harnessing Solar‐Driven Photothermal Effect toward the Water–Energy Nexus

Multistage and passive cooling process driven by salinity difference

Optimization of multistage membrane distillation system for treating shale gas produced water

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