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Lee Y, Jeong S, Kim JH, Jeong S. Mechanism of Silica Nanoparticle-Induced Particulate Fouling in Vacuum Membrane Distillation. Membranes (Basel) 2024; 14:76. [PMID: 38668104 PMCID: PMC11051741 DOI: 10.3390/membranes14040076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2023] [Revised: 02/08/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Membrane distillation (MD) is a process driven by the vapor pressure difference dependent on temperature variation, utilizing a hydrophobic porous membrane. MD operates at low pressure and temperature, exhibiting resilience to osmotic pressure. However, a challenge arises as the membrane performance diminishes due to temperature polarization (TP) occurring on the membrane surface. The vacuum MD process leverages the application of a vacuum to generate a higher vapor pressure difference, enhancing the flux and mitigating TP issues. Nevertheless, membrane fouling leads to decreased performance, causing membrane wetting and reducing the ion removal efficiency. This study investigates membrane fouling phenomena induced by various silica nanoparticle sizes (400, 900, and 1300 nm). The patterns of membrane fouling, as indicated by the flux reduction, vary depending on the particle size. Distinct MD performances are observed with changes in the feed water temperature and flow rate. When examining the membrane fouling mechanism for particles with a porosity resembling actual particulate materials, a fouling form similar to the solid type is noted. Therefore, this study elucidates the impact of particulate matter on membrane fouling under diverse conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Sanghyun Jeong
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea; (Y.L.); (J.-H.K.)
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Najib A, Mana T, Ali E, Al-Ansary H, Almehmadi FA, Alhoshan M. Experimental Investigation on the Energy and Exergy Efficiency of the Vacuum Membrane Distillation System with Its Various Configurations. Membranes (Basel) 2024; 14:54. [PMID: 38392681 PMCID: PMC10890068 DOI: 10.3390/membranes14020054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2024] [Revised: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
This paper addresses a retrofitting vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) setup to reduce the accumulated pressure inside the permeated side. This modification is necessary to extend the operation of the VMD to extreme operation conditions of higher hot water temperatures. This modification, denoted as a hybrid configuration, proposes the injection of a cold water stream into the VMD cell without mixing it with the permeate. Energy and exergy efficiency analyses were performed to assess the effectiveness of the hybrid configuration. The performance of the modified system indicated an improvement in terms of permeate flux (J), the gain output ratio (GOR), and the utilitarian exergetic efficiency (ηex,u), which reach up to two and three times that of the base configuration of the VMD system. However, the exergetic efficiency (ηex) of the hybrid system showed marginal improvement compared to the base case over the tested range of hot water temperatures. This is because the enhanced vapor production is penalized by excess energy consumption. Moreover, the highest exergy destruction percentages occurred in the operational components (e.g., heater and chillers) which fall in the range of 19.0-68.9%. The exergy destruction percentage in the original components (e.g., the VMD cell and condenser) did not exceed 8.3%. Furthermore, this study indicated that the hybrid configuration requires additional tuning and optimization to perform efficiently over wide operating conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdullah Najib
- Mechanical Engineering Department, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
| | - Turki Mana
- Chemical Engineering Department, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
| | - Emad Ali
- Chemical Engineering Department, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
| | - Hany Al-Ansary
- Mechanical Engineering Department, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
| | - Fahad Awjah Almehmadi
- Department of Applied Mechanical Engineering, College of Applied Engineering, Muzahimiyah Branch, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mansour Alhoshan
- Chemical Engineering Department, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
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Alfonso G, Laborie S, Cabassud C. Modeling of Integrated Hollow-Fiber Solar-Powered VMD Modules for Desalination for a Better Understanding and Management of Heat Flows. Membranes (Basel) 2024; 14:50. [PMID: 38392677 PMCID: PMC10889957 DOI: 10.3390/membranes14020050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
The direct integration of membrane distillation and solar energy collection in a single module is a promising technology for autonomous seawater desalination in remote regions; however, the modeling and design of such modules are challenging because of the coupling of the radial and longitudinal heat and mass transfers. In a previous study, we provided as a first modeling approach a hollow fiber solar collector vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) module, considering a constant temperature at the shell side and a pure water feed. Here, a full model is developed to describe the coupled effects of the solar collector and a hollow fiber VMD module operating in an outside/in mode with saline water. The model considers all the main phenomena (membrane distillation, temperature and concentration polarization, absorption of solar radiation and energy balances over the solar collector, radial and longitudinal heat and mass transfer, seawater properties, and more than 30 variables). Applied to simulate the behavior of a semi-industrial-scale module, it allows the influence of solar radiation on the performance/limits of the integrated module to be discussed based on the radial and longitudinal profiles and heat flows. The model can be used to identify key points in the module design to better utilize solar radiation and manage heat flows.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gina Alfonso
- TBI, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INRAE, INSA, 135 Avenue de Rangueil, Cedex 4, F-31077 Toulouse, France
| | - Stéphanie Laborie
- TBI, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INRAE, INSA, 135 Avenue de Rangueil, Cedex 4, F-31077 Toulouse, France
| | - Corinne Cabassud
- TBI, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INRAE, INSA, 135 Avenue de Rangueil, Cedex 4, F-31077 Toulouse, France
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Ismael BH, Khaleel F, Ibrahim SS, Khaleel SR, AlOmar MK, Masood A, Aljumaily MM, Alsalhy QF, Mohd Razali SF, Al-Juboori RA, Hameed MM, Alsarayreh AA. Permeation Flux Prediction of Vacuum Membrane Distillation Using Hybrid Machine Learning Techniques. Membranes (Basel) 2023; 13:900. [PMID: 38132904 PMCID: PMC10744684 DOI: 10.3390/membranes13120900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2023] [Revised: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) has attracted increasing interest for various applications besides seawater desalination. Experimental testing of membrane technologies such as VMD on a pilot or large scale can be laborious and costly. Machine learning techniques can be a valuable tool for predicting membrane performance on such scales. In this work, a novel hybrid model was developed based on incorporating a spotted hyena optimizer (SHO) with support vector machine (SVR) to predict the flux pressure in VMD. The SVR-SHO hybrid model was validated with experimental data and benchmarked against other machine learning tools such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), classical SVR, and multiple linear regression (MLR). The results show that the SVR-SHO predicted flux pressure with high accuracy with a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.94. However, other models showed a lower prediction accuracy than SVR-SHO with R-values ranging from 0.801 to 0.902. Global sensitivity analysis was applied to interpret the obtained result, revealing that feed temperature was the most influential operating parameter on flux, with a relative importance score of 52.71 compared to 17.69, 17.16, and 14.44 for feed flowrate, vacuum pressure intensity, and feed concentration, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bashar H. Ismael
- Construction and Projects Department, University of Fallujah, Fallujah 31002, Iraq;
- Department of Civil Engineering, Al-Maarif University College (AUC), Ramadi 31001, Iraq; (F.K.); (M.K.A.); (M.M.A.); (M.M.H.)
| | - Faidhalrahman Khaleel
- Department of Civil Engineering, Al-Maarif University College (AUC), Ramadi 31001, Iraq; (F.K.); (M.K.A.); (M.M.A.); (M.M.H.)
| | - Salah S. Ibrahim
- Membrane Technology Research Unit, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Technology, Alsena’a Street 52, Baghdad 10066, Iraq; (S.S.I.); (S.R.K.)
| | - Samraa R. Khaleel
- Membrane Technology Research Unit, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Technology, Alsena’a Street 52, Baghdad 10066, Iraq; (S.S.I.); (S.R.K.)
| | - Mohamed Khalid AlOmar
- Department of Civil Engineering, Al-Maarif University College (AUC), Ramadi 31001, Iraq; (F.K.); (M.K.A.); (M.M.A.); (M.M.H.)
| | - Adil Masood
- Department of Civil Engineering, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India;
| | - Mustafa M. Aljumaily
- Department of Civil Engineering, Al-Maarif University College (AUC), Ramadi 31001, Iraq; (F.K.); (M.K.A.); (M.M.A.); (M.M.H.)
| | - Qusay F. Alsalhy
- Membrane Technology Research Unit, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Technology, Alsena’a Street 52, Baghdad 10066, Iraq; (S.S.I.); (S.R.K.)
| | - Siti Fatin Mohd Razali
- Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia;
- Smart and Sustainable Township Research Centre (SUTRA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
- Green Engineering and Net Zero Solution (GREENZ), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Raed A. Al-Juboori
- NYUAD Water Research Center, Abu Dhabi Campus, New York University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 129188, United Arab Emirates
- Water and Environmental Engineering Research Group, Department of Built Environment, Aalto University, P.O. Box 15200, FI-00076 Espoo, Finland
| | - Mohammed Majeed Hameed
- Department of Civil Engineering, Al-Maarif University College (AUC), Ramadi 31001, Iraq; (F.K.); (M.K.A.); (M.M.A.); (M.M.H.)
| | - Alanood A. Alsarayreh
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mutah University, P.O. Box 7, Karak 61710, Jordan;
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Chen K, Ling H, Liu H, Zhao W, Xiao C. Design of Robust FEP Porous Ultrafiltration Membranes by Electrospinning-Sintered Technology. Polymers (Basel) 2022; 14:3802. [PMID: 36145947 DOI: 10.3390/polym14183802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 09/08/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Perfluoropolymer membranes are widely used because of their good environmental adaptability. Herein, the ultrafine fibrous FEP porous membranes were fabricated with electrospinning-sintered technology. The effects of PVA content and sintering temperature on the fabricated membranes’ morphologies and properties were investigated. The results indicate that a kind of dimensionally stable network structure was formed in the obtained ultrafine fibrous FEP porous membranes after sintering the nascent ultrafine fibrous FEP/PVA membranes. The optimal sintering conditions were obtained by comparing the membranes’ performance in terms of membrane morphology, hydrophobicity, mechanical strength, and porosity. When the sintering temperature was 300 °C for 10 min, the porosity, water contact angle, and liquid entry pressure of the membrane were 62.7%, 124.2° ± 2.1°, and 0.18 MPa, respectively. Moreover, the ultrafine fibrous FEP porous membrane at the optimal sintering conditions was tested in vacuum membrane distillation with a permeate flux of 15.1 L·m−2·h−1 and a salt rejection of 97.99%. Consequently, the ultrafine fibrous FEP porous membrane might be applied in the seawater desalination field.
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Nassif AG, Ibrahim SS, Majdi HS, Alsalhy QF. Ethanol Separation from an Ethanol-Water Solution Using Vacuum Membrane Distillation. Membranes (Basel) 2022; 12:807. [PMID: 36005722 PMCID: PMC9412536 DOI: 10.3390/membranes12080807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2022] [Revised: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) process was applied to separate ethanol from a simulated ethanol-water solution using a commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane. The presence of ethanol in the ethanol-water solution with a 2 wt.% ethanol concentration at a temperature above 40 °C during the MD process may result in membrane failure due to an increase in the chance of the PTFE membrane wetting at high temperatures. Therefore, the operating temperature in this study was not higher than 35 °C, with an initial ethanol concentration up to 10 wt.%. This work focuses on optimizing the VMD operating parameters using the Taguchi technique based on an analysis of variance (ANOVA). It was found that the feed temperature was the most-affected parameter, leading to a significant increase in the permeation flux of the PTFE membrane. Our results also showed that the permeate flux was reported at about 24.145 kg/m2·h, with a separation factor of 8.6 of the permeate under the operating conditions of 2 wt.%, 30 °C, 60 mm Hg(abs), and 0.6 L/min feed (concentration, temperature, permeate vacuum pressure, and flow rate, respectively). The initial feed concentration, vacuum pressure, and feed flow rate have a lower impact on the permeation flux.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abeer G. Nassif
- Membrane Technology Research Unit, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Technology-Iraq, Alsinaa Street, Baghdad 10066, Iraq
| | - Salah S. Ibrahim
- Membrane Technology Research Unit, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Technology-Iraq, Alsinaa Street, Baghdad 10066, Iraq
| | - Hasan Sh. Majdi
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Industries, Al-Mustaqbal University College, Babylon 51001, Iraq
| | - Qusay F. Alsalhy
- Membrane Technology Research Unit, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Technology-Iraq, Alsinaa Street, Baghdad 10066, Iraq
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7
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Wang F, Liu J, Li D, Liu Z, Zhang J, Ding P, Liu G, Feng Y. High-Efficiency Water Recovery from Urine by Vacuum Membrane Distillation for Space Applications: Water Quality Improvement and Operation Stability. Membranes (Basel) 2022; 12:membranes12060629. [PMID: 35736336 PMCID: PMC9230999 DOI: 10.3390/membranes12060629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Revised: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Water recovery by membrane distillation (MD) is an attractive alternative to existing urine treatment systems because it could improve the water recovery rate and reliability in space missions. However, there are few studies of urine MD, particularly on the removal of the remaining contaminants from distillate water and the assessment of its long-term performance. In this study, the influences of various operation parameters on distillate water quality and operation stability were investigated in batch mode. The low pH of feedstock reduced the conductivity and total ammonium nitrogen (TAN) in distillate water because the low pH promoted the ionization of ammonia to ammonium ions. However, the low pH also facilitated the formation of free chlorine hydride, which resulted in the minor deterioration of the conductivity in the distillate due to the increasing volatility of chlorine hydride in the feedstock. Thirty batches of vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) experiments demonstrated that the permeate flux and the distillate water quality slightly decreased due to the small range of membrane wetting but still maintained an over 94.2% and 95.8% removal efficiency of the total organic carbon (TOC) and TAN, and the conductivity was <125 μs cm−1 in the distillate water after 30 test batches. VMD is a feasible option for urine treatment in space missions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fei Wang
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 73 Huanghe Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150090, China; (F.W.); (J.L.); (D.L.); (J.Z.)
- National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing 100094, China;
| | - Junfeng Liu
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 73 Huanghe Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150090, China; (F.W.); (J.L.); (D.L.); (J.Z.)
| | - Da Li
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 73 Huanghe Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150090, China; (F.W.); (J.L.); (D.L.); (J.Z.)
| | - Zheng Liu
- The Institute of Seawater Desalination and Multipurpose Utilization, MNR (Tianjin), Tianjin 300192, China; (Z.L.); (G.L.)
| | - Jie Zhang
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 73 Huanghe Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150090, China; (F.W.); (J.L.); (D.L.); (J.Z.)
| | - Ping Ding
- National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing 100094, China;
| | - Guochang Liu
- The Institute of Seawater Desalination and Multipurpose Utilization, MNR (Tianjin), Tianjin 300192, China; (Z.L.); (G.L.)
| | - Yujie Feng
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 73 Huanghe Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150090, China; (F.W.); (J.L.); (D.L.); (J.Z.)
- Correspondence:
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Qua MS, Zhao Y, Zhang J, Hernandez S, Paing AT, Mottaiyan K, Zuo J, Dhalla A, Chung TS, Gudipati C. Novel Sandwich-Structured Hollow Fiber Membrane for High-Efficiency Membrane Distillation and Scale-Up for Pilot Validation. Membranes (Basel) 2022; 12:membranes12040423. [PMID: 35448394 PMCID: PMC9032867 DOI: 10.3390/membranes12040423] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Revised: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Hollow fiber membranes were produced from a commercial polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer, Kynar HSV 900, with a unique sandwich structure consisting of two sponge-like layers connected to the outer and inner skin layers while the middle layer comprises macrovoids. The sponge-like layer allows the membrane to have good mechanical strength even at low skin thickness and favors water vapor transportation during vacuum membrane distillation (VMD). The middle layer with macrovoids helps to significantly reduce the trans-membrane resistance during water vapor transportation from the feed side to the permeate side. Together, these novel structural characteristics are expected to render the PVDF hollow fiber membranes more efficient in terms of vapor flux as well as mechanical integrity. Using the chemistry and process conditions adopted from previous work, we were able to scale up the membrane fabrication from a laboratory scale of 1.5 kg to a manufacturing scale of 50 kg with consistent membrane performance. The produced PVDF membrane, with a liquid entry pressure (LEPw) of >3 bar and a pure water flux of >30 L/m2·hr (LMH) under VMD conditions at 70−80 °C, is perfectly suitable for next-generation high-efficiency membranes for desalination and industrial wastewater applications. The technology translation efforts, including membrane and module scale-up as well as the preliminary pilot-scale validation study, are discussed in detail in this paper.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marn Soon Qua
- Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre (START), Nanyang Technological University–NTUitive Pte Ltd., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637141, Singapore; (M.S.Q.); (Y.Z.); (J.Z.); (S.H.); (A.T.P.); (K.M.); (A.D.)
| | - Yan Zhao
- Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre (START), Nanyang Technological University–NTUitive Pte Ltd., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637141, Singapore; (M.S.Q.); (Y.Z.); (J.Z.); (S.H.); (A.T.P.); (K.M.); (A.D.)
| | - Junyou Zhang
- Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre (START), Nanyang Technological University–NTUitive Pte Ltd., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637141, Singapore; (M.S.Q.); (Y.Z.); (J.Z.); (S.H.); (A.T.P.); (K.M.); (A.D.)
| | - Sebastian Hernandez
- Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre (START), Nanyang Technological University–NTUitive Pte Ltd., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637141, Singapore; (M.S.Q.); (Y.Z.); (J.Z.); (S.H.); (A.T.P.); (K.M.); (A.D.)
| | - Aung Thet Paing
- Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre (START), Nanyang Technological University–NTUitive Pte Ltd., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637141, Singapore; (M.S.Q.); (Y.Z.); (J.Z.); (S.H.); (A.T.P.); (K.M.); (A.D.)
| | - Karikalan Mottaiyan
- Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre (START), Nanyang Technological University–NTUitive Pte Ltd., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637141, Singapore; (M.S.Q.); (Y.Z.); (J.Z.); (S.H.); (A.T.P.); (K.M.); (A.D.)
| | - Jian Zuo
- Food, Chemical and Biotechnology Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore 637141, Singapore;
| | - Adil Dhalla
- Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre (START), Nanyang Technological University–NTUitive Pte Ltd., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637141, Singapore; (M.S.Q.); (Y.Z.); (J.Z.); (S.H.); (A.T.P.); (K.M.); (A.D.)
| | - Tai-Shung Chung
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 637141, Singapore
- Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan
- Correspondence: (T.-S.C.); (C.G.); Tel.: +886-2-2730-1158 (T.-S.C.); +65-6908-2275 (C.G.)
| | - Chakravarthy Gudipati
- Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre (START), Nanyang Technological University–NTUitive Pte Ltd., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637141, Singapore; (M.S.Q.); (Y.Z.); (J.Z.); (S.H.); (A.T.P.); (K.M.); (A.D.)
- Correspondence: (T.-S.C.); (C.G.); Tel.: +886-2-2730-1158 (T.-S.C.); +65-6908-2275 (C.G.)
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Tagliabue M, Tonziello J, Bottino A, Capannelli G, Comite A, Pagliero M, Boero F, Cattaneo C. Laboratory Scale Evaluation of Fertiliser Factory Wastewater Treatment through Membrane Distillation and Reverse Osmosis. Membranes (Basel) 2021; 11:membranes11080610. [PMID: 34436373 PMCID: PMC8398162 DOI: 10.3390/membranes11080610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Revised: 07/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The incumbent water stress scenario imposes wastewater valorisation to freshwater, promoting technology for its effective treatment. Wastewater from fertiliser factories is quite problematic because of its relevant acidity and solute content. Its treatment through vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) was evaluated through laboratory scale tests at 40 °C and 25 mbar vacuum pressure with polytetrafluoroethylene and polypropylene flat-sheet porous membranes. The wastewater from a partially disused Italian industrial site was considered. VMD distillate fluxes between 22 and 57.4 L m-2 h-1 (LMH), depending on the pore size of the membranes, along with very high retention (R > 99%) for anions (Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, PO43-), NH4+, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were observed. Laboratory scale reverse osmosis (RO) tests at 25 °C and increasing of the operating pressure (from 20 bar to 40 bar) were carried out with a seawater desalination membrane for comparison purposes. Permeability values around 1.1 LMH/bar almost independently of the operating pressure were observed. Lower retentions than those measured from VMD tests were found. Finally, for any given RO operating pressure, the flux recovery ratio (FRR) calculated from permeate fluxes measured with pure water before and after wastewater treatment was always much lower that evaluated for VMD membranes.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Tagliabue
- Renewable Energy and Environmental Laboratories, Eni S.p.A., F. Maritano 26, I-20097 San Donato Milanese, Italy; (M.T.); (J.T.)
| | - J. Tonziello
- Renewable Energy and Environmental Laboratories, Eni S.p.A., F. Maritano 26, I-20097 San Donato Milanese, Italy; (M.T.); (J.T.)
| | - A. Bottino
- Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Dodecaneso 31, I-16146 Genoa, Italy; (A.B.); (G.C.); (M.P.)
| | - G. Capannelli
- Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Dodecaneso 31, I-16146 Genoa, Italy; (A.B.); (G.C.); (M.P.)
- TICASS S.c.r.l., B. Bosco 57/4, I-16121 Genoa, Italy; (F.B.); (C.C.)
| | - A. Comite
- Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Dodecaneso 31, I-16146 Genoa, Italy; (A.B.); (G.C.); (M.P.)
- Correspondence:
| | - M. Pagliero
- Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Dodecaneso 31, I-16146 Genoa, Italy; (A.B.); (G.C.); (M.P.)
| | - F. Boero
- TICASS S.c.r.l., B. Bosco 57/4, I-16121 Genoa, Italy; (F.B.); (C.C.)
| | - C. Cattaneo
- TICASS S.c.r.l., B. Bosco 57/4, I-16121 Genoa, Italy; (F.B.); (C.C.)
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Shuldes BN, Bavarian M, Nejati S. Multiphysics Modeling and Analysis of a Solar Desalination Process Based on Vacuum Membrane Distillation. Membranes (Basel) 2021; 11:386. [PMID: 34070365 DOI: 10.3390/membranes11060386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Revised: 05/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
A hollow fiber vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) module was modeled using finite element analysis, and the results were used to conduct an exergy efficiency analysis for a solar-thermal desalination scheme. The performance of the VMD module was simulated under various operating conditions and membrane parameters. Membrane porosity, tortuosity, pore diameter, thickness, and fiber length were varied, along with feed temperature and feed configuration. In all cases, polarization phenomena were seen to inhibit the performance of the module. Under VMD operation, polarization of salt concentration was seen to be the main determining factor in the reduction of permeate flux. Within the boundary layer, salt concentration was seen to rapidly increase from the feed mass fraction of 0.035 to the saturation point. The increase in salt concentration led to a decrease in saturation pressure, the driving force for separation. Charging the feed into the shell instead of the lumen side of the membranes resulted in a further decrease in permeate flux. It is shown that adding a baffling scheme to the surface of the fibers can effectively reduce polarization phenomena and improve permeate flux. Increasing the overall recovery ratio was seen to increase the exergy efficiency of the system. Exergy efficiency was seen to have almost no dependency on membrane parameters due to the low recovery ratio in a single pass and the high heating duty required to reach the desired temperature for the feed stream.
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Chen YH, Hung HG, Ho CD, Chang H. Economic Design of Solar-Driven Membrane Distillation Systems for Desalination. Membranes (Basel) 2020; 11:15. [PMID: 33374287 DOI: 10.3390/membranes11010015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2020] [Revised: 12/20/2020] [Accepted: 12/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Solar-driven membrane distillation (SDMD) for desalination is a feasible method to solve water and energy resource issues. The design and operation of SDMD is different from continuous and steady state processes, such as common chemical plants, due to the intermittent and unpredictive characteristics of solar radiation. Employing the steady state and dynamic simulation models developed on the platform of Aspen Custom Modeler®, this paper presents a two-stage design approach for the SDMD systems using different types of membrane distillation configurations, including AGMD (air gap MD), DCMD (direct contract MD) and VMD (vacuum MD). The first design stage uses the steady state simulation model and determines equipment sizes for different constant-value solar radiation intensities with the objective of minimizing total annual cost. The second design stage is implemented on the SDMD systems with process control to automatically adjust the operating flow rates using the dynamic simulation model. Operated with the yearly solar radiation intensity of Taiwan, the unit production costs (UPCs) of the optimal SDMD systems using AGMD, DCMD, and VMD are $2.71, 5.38, and 10.41 per m3 of water produced, respectively. When the membrane unit cost is decreased from $90/m2 to $36/m2, the UPC of the optimal solar-driven AGMD system can be reduced from $2.71/m3 to $2.04/m3.
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Alkhudhiri A, Bin Darwish N, Hakami MW, Abdullah A, Alsadun A, Abu Homod H. Boron Removal by Membrane Distillation: A Comparison Study. Membranes (Basel) 2020; 10:membranes10100263. [PMID: 32998231 PMCID: PMC7600657 DOI: 10.3390/membranes10100263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2020] [Revised: 09/24/2020] [Accepted: 09/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Several Membrane Distillation (MD) technologies have been employed to remove boron from various concentrations. In this study, Vacuum Membrane Distillation (VMD), Permeate Gap Membrane Distillation (PGMD), and Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) are examined to evaluate their effectiveness when combined with several boron concentrations (1.5, 7 and 30 ppm) and operating parameters (circulation rate from 0.9 L/min to 5 L/min, feed temperature from 40 to 70 °C, and pH from 3–11). Those concentrations of boron are selected on the basis of the concentration of boron in the permeate side of the single-pass reverse osmosis (RO) system, Arabian Gulf, and contaminated brackish water. Moreover, synthetic seawater is treated to assess MD technologies’ effectiveness. A high removal efficiency of boron is accomplished by MD. AGMD, PGMD, and VMD are promising methods for the desalination industry. AGMD shows excellent boron removal, which was above 99% with a wide ranging concentration. In addition, VMD demonstrates good permeate flux compared to the other MD technologies, which were about 5.8 kg/m2·h for synthetic seawater. Furthermore, there is no noteworthy influence of the pH value on the boron removal efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdullah Alkhudhiri
- National Center for Desalination & Water Treatment Technology, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia; (N.B.D.); (A.A.); (H.A.H.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Nawaf Bin Darwish
- National Center for Desalination & Water Treatment Technology, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia; (N.B.D.); (A.A.); (H.A.H.)
| | - Mohammed Wali Hakami
- Chemical Engineering Technology Department, Jubail Industrial College, Jubail Industrial City 31961, Saudi Arabia;
| | - AbdelKader Abdullah
- College of Engineering, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 655, AlKharj 11942, Saudi Arabia;
| | - Ahmed Alsadun
- National Center for Desalination & Water Treatment Technology, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia; (N.B.D.); (A.A.); (H.A.H.)
| | - Hosam Abu Homod
- National Center for Desalination & Water Treatment Technology, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia; (N.B.D.); (A.A.); (H.A.H.)
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Rezaei M, Alsaati A, Warsinger DM, Hell F, Samhaber WM. Long-Running Comparison of Feed-Water Scaling in Membrane Distillation. Membranes (Basel) 2020; 10:E173. [PMID: 32751820 DOI: 10.3390/membranes10080173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2020] [Revised: 07/27/2020] [Accepted: 07/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Membrane distillation (MD) has shown promise for concentrating a wide variety of brines, but the knowledge is limited on how different brines impact salt scaling, flux decline, and subsequent wetting. Furthermore, past studies have lacked critical details and analysis to enable a physical understanding, including the length of experiments, the inclusion of salt kinetics, impact of antiscalants, and variability between feed-water types. To address this gap, we examined the system performance, water recovery, scale formation, and saturation index of a lab-scale vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) in long-running test runs approaching 200 h. The tests provided a comparison of a variety of relevant feed solutions, including a synthetic seawater reverse osmosis brine with a salinity of 8.0 g/L, tap water, and NaCl, and included an antiscalant. Saturation modeling indicated that calcite and aragonite were the main foulants contributing to permeate flux reduction. The longer operation times than typical studies revealed several insights. First, scaling could reduce permeate flux dramatically, seen here as 49% for the synthetic brine, when reaching a high recovery ratio of 91%. Second, salt crystallization on the membrane surface could have a long-delayed but subsequently significant impact, as the permeate flux experienced a precipitous decline only after 72 h of continuous operation. Several scaling-resistant impacts were observed as well. Although use of an antiscalant did not reduce the decrease in flux, it extended membrane operational time before surface foulants caused membrane wetting. Additionally, numerous calcium, magnesium, and carbonate salts, as well as silica, reached very high saturation indices (>1). Despite this, scaling without wetting was often observed, and scaling was consistently reversible and easily washed. Under heavy scaling conditions, many areas lacked deposits, which enabled continued operation; existing MD performance models lack this effect by assuming uniform layers. This work implies that longer times are needed for MD fouling experiments, and provides further scaling-resistant evidence for MD.
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Wang M, Liu G, Yu H, Lee SH, Wang L, Zheng J, Wang T, Yun Y, Lee JK. ZnO Nanorod Array Modified PVDF Membrane with Superhydrophobic Surface for Vacuum Membrane Distillation Application. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2018; 10:13452-13461. [PMID: 29616789 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b00271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) is a promising technology for lots of applications. To solve the membrane fouling and wetting problems, in this paper, a novel ZnO nanorods 1 H,1 H,2 H,2 H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane (PDTS) modified poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane with a micro/nanoscale hierarchical structure and a superhydrophobic surface has been prepared and applied to the VMD process for distilling highly salty water, for the first time. Among these, a pyrolysis-adhesion method is created to obtain the ZnO seeds and fasten them on the PVDF substrate firmly. The novel modified membrane shows a stable superhydrophobic surface with a water contact angle of 152°, easy cleaning property, excellent thermal and mechanical stability, because of the Cassie's state caused by pocketing much air in the hydrophobized ZnO nanorods, the low surface energy of PDTS coating, and the strong adhesion between ZnO nanorods and PVDF membrane, which has built an ideal structure for VMD application. After 8 h VMD of 200 g L-1 NaCl solution, compared to the virgin PVDF membrane, the novel membrane shows a similar permeate flux but a much higher quality permeated liquid because of its unique antifouling and antiwetting caused by the several microns gap between the feed and the membrane. Due to its easy cleaning property, the novel membrane also exhibits an excellent reusability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manxiang Wang
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering , Beijing Forestry University , Beijing 100083 , P. R. China
| | | | | | - Sang-Hyup Lee
- Green School , Korea University , 145 Anam-ro , Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841 , Republic of Korea
| | - Lei Wang
- Beijing Key Lab of Cryobiomedical Engineering and Key Lab of Cryogenics, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190 , P. R. China
| | - Jianzhong Zheng
- College of Resources and Environment , University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , 19 A Yuquan Road , Beijing 100049 , P. R. China
| | - Tao Wang
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering , Beijing Forestry University , Beijing 100083 , P. R. China
| | - Yanbin Yun
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering , Beijing Forestry University , Beijing 100083 , P. R. China
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Kujawa J, Al-Gharabli S, Kujawski W, Knozowska K. Molecular Grafting of Fluorinated and Nonfluorinated Alkylsiloxanes on Various Ceramic Membrane Surfaces for the Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds Applying Vacuum Membrane Distillation. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2017; 9:6571-6590. [PMID: 28124901 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b14835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Four main tasks were presented: (i) ceramic membrane functionalization (TiO2 5 kDa and 300 kDa), (ii) extended material characterization (physicochemistry and tribology) of pristine and modified ceramic samples, (iii) evaluation of chemical and mechanical stability, and finally (iv) assessment of membrane efficiency in vacuum membrane distillation applied for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) removal from water. Highly efficient molecular grafting with four types of perfluoroalkylsilanes and one nonfluorinated agent was developed. Materials with controllable tribological and physicochemical properties were achieved. The most meaningful finding is associated with the applicability of fluorinated and nonfluorinated grafting agents. The results of contact angle, hysteresis of contact angle, sliding angle, and critical surface tension as well as Young's modulus, nanohardness, and adhesion force for grafting by these two modifiers are comparable. This provides insight into the potential applicability of environmental friendly hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces. The achieved hydrophobic membranes were very effective in the removal of VOCs (butanol, methyl-tert-butyl ether, and ethyl acetate) from binary aqueous solutions in vacuum membrane distillation. The correlation between membrane effectiveness and separated solvent polarity was compared in terms of material properties and resistance to the wetting (kinetics of wetting and in-depth liquid penetration). Material properties were interpreted considering Zisman theory and using Kao diagram. The significant influence of surface chemistry on the membrane performance was noticed (5 kDa, influence of hydrophobic nanolayer and separation controlled by solution-diffusion model; 300 kDa, no impact of surface chemistry and separation controlled by liquid-vapor equilibrium).
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Kujawa
- Faculty of Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń , 7 Gagarina Street, 87-100 Torun, Poland
| | - Samer Al-Gharabli
- Pharmaceutical and Chemical Engineering Department, German-Jordanian University , Amman 11180, Jordan
| | - Wojciech Kujawski
- Faculty of Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń , 7 Gagarina Street, 87-100 Torun, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Knozowska
- Faculty of Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń , 7 Gagarina Street, 87-100 Torun, Poland
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