Performance of Vacuum Membrane Distillation for Water Flux Enhancement by Recirculated Air

Lalinee Tubtimthong, Monthon Thanuttamavong, Nattadon Pannucharoenwong

Abstract


At present, converting seawater or saltwater is employed to change to more freshwater to help meet the problem of shortage of freshwater. Membrane distillation is a process for desalination in which only water vapor is passed through a porous hydrophobic membrane. The modules used in this experiment are tubular. Vacuum membrane distillation supplemented by humid air recirculation (RVMD) is introduced to enhance the efficiency of the vacuum system for water productivity enhancement. This study examined the operating conditions of the system, that affect the performance of the system which consists of cooling water temperature hot feedwater temperature, transmembrane pressure, and transmembrane temperature. The results showed that when increasing feed water temperature with the increase in the water flux. The maximum flux value was 2.97 L/m2hr at the feed water temperature of 50°C, transmembrane pressure -60 kPa, and cooling water temperature of 30ºC.

Keywords


Cooling water temperature; Humid-air recirculation; Transmembrane; Vacuum membrane distillation; Water flux

Full Text:

PDF

References


Shirazi M.M.A., Kargari A., and Shirazi M.J.A., 2012. Direct contact membrane distillation for seawater desalination. Desalination and Water Treatment 49(1-3): 368-375.

Gleick P.H., 1993. Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World’s Fresh Water Resources. New York: Oxford University Press.

Mericq J.P., Laborie S., and Corinne C., 2010. Vacuum membrane distillation of seawater reverse osmosis brines. Water Research 44(18): 5260-5273.

Eykens L., De Sitter K., Dotremont C., Pinoy L., and Van der Bruggen B., 2017. Membrane synthesis for membrane distillation: A review. Separation and Purification Technology 182: 36-51.

Swaminathan J., Chung H.W., Warsinge D.M., AlMarzooqi F.A., Arafat H.A. and Lienhard J.H., 2016. Energy efficiency of permeate gap and novel conductive gap membrane distillation. Journal of Membrane Science. 502: 171–178.

Pangarkar B.L., Sane M.G., Parjane S.B., and Guddad M., 2011. Vacuum membrane distillation for desalination of ground water by using flat sheet membrane. International Journal of chemical and Molecular Engineering 5(3): 232-237.

Mohamed E.S., Boutikos P., Mathioulakis E., and Belessiotis V., 2017. Experimental evaluation of the performance and energy efficiency of a vacuum multi-effect membrane distillation system. Desalination 408: 70-80.

Naidu G., Choi Y., Jeong S., Hwang T.M., and Vigneswaran S., 2014. Experiments and modeling of a vacuum membrane distillation for high saline water. Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 20: 2174–2183.

Safavi M. and T. Mohammadi. 2009. High-salinity water desalination using VMD. Chemical Engineering Journal 149(1-3): 191-195.

Zhang X., Guo Z., Zhang C., and Luan J., 2016. Exploration and optimization of two-stage vacuum membrane distillation process for the treatment of saline wastewater produced by natural gas exploitation. Desalination 385: 117–125.

Xu Y., Zhu B.K., and Xu Y.Y., 2006. Pilot test of vacuum membrane distillation for seawater desalination on a ship. Desalination 189: 165–169.

Wirth D. and C. Cabassud. 2002. Water desalination using membrane distillation: distillation: between inside/out and outside/in permeation. Desalination 147: 139-145.

Kaewseng N., Tubtimthong L., Thanuttamavong M., and Chiemchaisri C., 2017. Modification of Vacuum Membrane Distillation with Humid-air Recirculation and Double-stage Condensation. In 7th Int'l Conf. on Innovations in Chemical, Biological, Environmental and Food Sciences. Pattaya, Thailand, 3-4 August.

Zhang J., Dow N., Duke M., Ostarcevic E., Li J., and Gray., 2010. Identification of material and physical features of membrane distillation membranes for high performance desalination. Journal of Membrane Science 349 (1-2): 295–303.

Schofield R.W., Fane A.G., and Fell C.J.D., 1987. Heat and mass transfer in membrane distillation. Journal of Membrane Science 33(3): 299-313.

Zhou J., Zhang X., Sun B., and Su W., 2018. Performance analysis of solar vacuum membrane distillation regeneration. Applied Thermal Engineering, 144: 571-582.

Sun L., Wang L., Wang Z., Li B., and Wang S., 2015. Characteristics analysis of cross flow vacuum membrane distillation process. Journal of Membrane Science 488: 30-39.

El-Zanati E. and M Khedr. 2020. Performance analysis, mathematical modeling, and economic assessment of developed vacuum membrane distillation system for water desalination. Water, Energy, Food and Environment Journal: An International Journal 1: 43-58.

Sun L., Wang L., Wang Z., Li, B., and Wang S., 2015. Characteristics analysis of cross flow vacuum membrane distillation process. Journal of Membrane Science 488: 30-39.

Bush J.A., Vanneste J., and Cath T.Y., 2016. Membrane distillation for concentration of hypersaline brines from the Great Salt Lake: Effects of scaling and fouling on performance, efficiency, and salt rejection. Separation and Purification Technology 170:78-91.

Pannucharoenwong N., Rattanadecho P., Echaroj, S., Benjapiyaporn C., and Nabudda K., 2021. Evaluation of titanium alloy as heat absorber for solar-based water treatment system. Energy Reports 7: 730–743.