Numerical study of CaCO3 scaling in submerged vacuum membrane distillation and crystallization (VMDC)

Biofouling control of membrane distillation for seawater desalination: Effect of air-backwash and chemical cleaning on biofouling formation

This study explored the applicability of chemical cleaning and air-backwash to alleviate biofouling on seawater membrane distillation (SWMD). Membrane performance and wettability properties maintained at optimum duration and frequency of the treatments, as indicated by low permeate conductivity throughout the tests. The cleaning of the membrane using 2% NaOH by immersing the membrane for 30 min after 240 min operation removed the biofouling layer, indicated by low permeate conductivity of 370 µScm^-1 after cleaning. However, more frequent membrane cleaning led to membrane damage, more severe wetting, and membrane hydrophobicity reduction. Ten-second air-backwash after 240 min of operation was also effective in controlling the biofouling, particularly when conducted at air pressure of 1 bar. More frequent air-backwash resulted in more aggravated inorganic fouling and accelerated biofouling formation due to the recurring introduction of air, leading to rapid membrane wetting.

Cane sugar crystallization using submerged vacuum membrane distillation crystallization (SVMDC)

The performance of Submerged Vacuum Membrane Distillation and Crystallization (SVMDC) for cane sugar concentration and crystallization was investigated in this study. Using hollow fiber membrane, the effect of operation parameters, such as feed concentration, feed temperature, and feed agitation were evaluated against the permeate flux. Following the operation parameters optimization, long-term SVMDC tests were performed using cane sugar model solution and raw sugarcane juice as the feed. Porous fouling layer was formed in test using cane sugar model solution which led to membrane fouling and wetting. However, sugar crystals were successfully formed in this test, despite under-saturated final feed concentration of 73.3°Brix. This indicated the occurrence of heterogeneous crystallization in the feed solution, that was induced by the sugar crystals detached from the membrane surface. In test using raw sugarcane juice as the feed, extremely low flux was observed due to the presence of impurities. However, membrane wetting did not occur as the implication of weak drag force occurred due to the low permeate flux. In this test, there was no observable crystal formed as the final feed concentration was much lower than the saturation concentration. In addition, the impurities hindered the interaction of sucrose molecules and disrupted crystal growth.

Advances in seawater membrane distillation (SWMD) towards stand-alone zero liquid discharge (ZLD) desalination

Seawater membrane distillation (SWMD) is a promising separation technology due to its ability to operate as a stand-alone desalination unit operation. This paper reviews approaches to improve laboratory-to-pilot-scale MD performance, which comprise operational strategies, module design, and specifically tailored membranes. A detailed comparison of SWMD and sea water reverse osmosis is presented to further analyze the critical shortcomings of SWMD. The unique features of SWMD, namely the ability to operate with extremely high salt rejection and at extreme feed concentration, highlight the SWMD potential to be operated under zero liquid discharge (ZLD) conditions, which results in the production of high-purity water and simultaneous salt recovery, as well as the elimination of the brine disposal cost. However, technical challenges, such as thermal energy requirements, inefficient heat transfer and integration, low water recovery factors, and lack of studies on real-case valuable-salt recovery, are impeding the commercialization of ZLD SWMD. This review highlights the possibility of applying selected strategies to push forward ZLD SWMD commercialization. Suggestions are projected to include intermittent removal of valuable salts, in-depth study on the robustness of novel membranes, module and configuration, utilization of a low-cost heat exchanger, and capital cost reduction in a renewable-energy-integrated SWMD plant.

A Numerical Simulation of Membrane Distillation Treatment of Mine Drainage by Computational Fluid Dynamics

Membrane distillation (MD) is a promising technology to treat mine water. This work aims to investigate the change in mass and heat transfer in reverse osmosis mine water treatment by vacuum membrane distillation (VMD). A 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics and verified by the experimental results. Then, response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to explore the effects of various parameters on the permeate flux and heat transfer efficiency. In terms of the influence degree on the permeation flux, the vacuum pressure > feed temperature > membrane length > feed temperature membrane length, and the membrane length has a negative correlation with the membrane flux. Increasing the feed temperature can also increase the convective heat transfer at the feed side, which will affect the heat transfer efficiency. Furthermore, the feed temperature also has a critical effect on the temperature polarization phenomenon. The temperature polarization becomes more notable at high temperatures.

The Application of Submerged Modules for Membrane Distillation

This paper deals with the efficiency of capillary modules without an external housing, which were used as submerged modules in the membrane distillation process. The commercial hydrophobic capillary membranes fabricated for the microfiltration process were applied. Several constructional variants of submerged modules were discussed. The influence of membrane arrangement, packing density, capillary diameter and length on the module performance was determined. The effect of process conditions, i.e., velocity and temperature of the streams, on the permeate flux was also evaluated. The submerged modules were located in the feed tank or in the distillate tank. It was found that much higher values of the permeate flux were obtained when the membranes were immersed in the feed with the distillate flowing inside the capillary membranes. The efficiency of submerged modules was additionally compared with the conventional membrane distillation (MD) capillary modules and a similar performance of both constructions was achieved.