Research Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations of Membrane Distillation Processes: A Review

Abstract

Membrane distillation (MD) can be used in drinking water treatment, such as seawater desalination, ultra-pure water production, chemical substances concentration, removal or recovery of volatile solutes in an aqueous solution, concentration of fruit juice or liquid food, and wastewater treatment. However, there is still much work to do to determine appropriate industrial implementation. MD processes refer to thermally driven transport of vapor through non-wetted porous hydrophobic membranes, which use the vapor pressure difference between the two sides of the membrane pores as the driving force. Recently, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation has been widely used in MD process analysis, such as MD mechanism and characteristics analysis, membrane module development, preparing novel membranes, etc. A series of related research results have been achieved, including the solutions of temperature/concentration polarization and permeate flux enhancement. In this article, the research of CFD applications in MD progress is reviewed, including the applications of CFD in the mechanism and characteristics analysis of different MD structures, in the design and optimization of membrane modules, and in the preparation and characteristics analysis of novel membranes. The physical phenomena and geometric structures have been greatly simplified in most CFD simulations of MD processes, so there still is much work to do in this field in the future. A great deal of attention has been paid to the hydrodynamics and heat transfer in the channels of MD modules, as well as the optimization of these modules. However, the study of momentum transfer, heat, and mass transfer mechanisms in membrane pores is rarely involved. These projects should be combined with mass transfer, heat transfer and momentum transfer for more comprehensive and in-depth research. In most CFD simulations of MD processes, some physical phenomena, such as surface diffusion, which occur on the membrane surface and have an important guiding significance for the preparation of novel membranes to be further studied, are also ignored. As a result, although CFD simulation has been widely used in MD process modeling already, there are still some problems remaining, which should be studied in the future. It can be predicted that more complex mechanisms, such as permeable wall conditions, fouling dynamics, and multiple ionic component diffusion, will be included in the CFD modeling of MD processes. Furthermore, users’ developed routines for MD processes will also be incorporated into the existing commercial or open source CFD software packages.

Theoretical Investigation of Vapor Transport Mechanism Using Tubular Membrane Distillation Module

“…Membrane distillation (MD) is a technique that includes both heat and mass transport. In MD, water vapor particles move from the heated feed to the condensing borders [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Figure 1 depicts transport patterns in MD because each process requires heat and mass transfer characteristics.…”

Experimental Investigation of the Desalination Process for Direct Contact Membrane Distillation Using Plate and Frame Membrane Module

“…Water resource depletion is a widespread issue on a global scale. With the growth of the global economy and the increase in population, this problem has become increasingly prominent [1,2]. At present, the best solution to the lack of water resources is conservation while also developing and utilizing techniques to treat water of poor quality.…”

Study on Low Thermal-Conductivity of PVDF@SiAG/PET Membranes for Direct Contact Membrane Distillation Application

“…Therefore, MD technology has been widely applied in seawater desalination, ultrapure water preparation, wastewater treatment, the separation of azeotropic mixtures, etc. [ 4 ]. The performance of MD depends on the membrane properties and operating conditions.…”