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Membranes
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Solar-assisted Membrane Distillation
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Solar-assisted Membrane Distillation

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Processing and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2021) | Viewed by 13572

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Chii-Dong Ho

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Tamkang University, Tamsui, New Taipei 251301, Taiwan
Interests: solar-assisted membrane distillation; membrane separation processes; heat and mass exchanger designs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Different membrane desalination (MD) processes under thermal-based and pressure-driven methods have been implemented using solar energy resources with a corrosion-free heat exchanger. Solar collectors and PV panels are mature technologies which could be coupled to MD processes. The combination of solar thermal and PV energy (or thermal/PV hybrid) with MD has proven technically feasible and widely recognized in saline water desalination. Technological assessments such as small or large equipment units, energy consumption, and fouling problems have been examined in the nexus of technical feasibility and economic benefits with the aim to create integrated systems of a solar-assisted thermal-driven transport of vapor through a porous hydrophobic membrane. The advances and prospects of using emerging membrane desalination modules on device performance are discussed. This Special Issue of Membranes on “Solar-Assisted Membrane Distillation” is dedicated to providing a forum of comprehensive coverage on the state-of-the-art and study of advanced applications in MD with solar energy resources and delivering suitable large-scale design MD processes in various industrial applications. Both original research articles and reviews are welcomed. All invited submissions for the Special Issue will go through the normal peer-review process.

Prof. Dr. Chii-Dong Ho
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • membrane separation
  • porous hydrophobic membrane
  • solar-assisted desalination
  • saline water desalination
  • device performance

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

3 pages, 177 KiB  
Editorial
Solar-Assisted Membrane Distillation
by Chii-Dong Ho
Membranes 2022, 12(3), 304; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12030304 - 9 Mar 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1845
Abstract
The integration of solar power and solar thermal systems using sunlight as the fuel can work in remote arid areas to meet the freshwater demand with membrane desalination processes, which is important in considering both the low environmental impact and the production cost [...] Read more.
The integration of solar power and solar thermal systems using sunlight as the fuel can work in remote arid areas to meet the freshwater demand with membrane desalination processes, which is important in considering both the low environmental impact and the production cost [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar-assisted Membrane Distillation)

Research

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19 pages, 3441 KiB  
Article
Multiphysics Modeling and Analysis of a Solar Desalination Process Based on Vacuum Membrane Distillation
by Benjamin N. Shuldes, Mona Bavarian and Siamak Nejati
Membranes 2021, 11(6), 386; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11060386 - 25 May 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2781
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar-assisted Membrane Distillation)
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14 pages, 3361 KiB  
Article
Experimental Investigation of a Pilot Solar-Assisted Permeate Gap Membrane Distillation
by Mohammed M. Alquraish, Sami Mejbri, Khaled A. Abuhasel and Khalifa Zhani
Membranes 2021, 11(5), 336; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11050336 - 30 Apr 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2718
Abstract
This research deals with the process of water desalination, involving an experimental design used to study a new prototype of a solar membrane distillation plant based on the weather conditions of Kairouan City, Tunisia. In this experiment, the pilot is left autonomous with [...] Read more.
This research deals with the process of water desalination, involving an experimental design used to study a new prototype of a solar membrane distillation plant based on the weather conditions of Kairouan City, Tunisia. In this experiment, the pilot is left autonomous with the sun as the only source of energy. The operating process of a desalination plant consists of solar energy provided by the sun using solar energy collectors, which provide energy through their photovoltaic panels for heating brackish water. Additionally, the membrane used in this study was of the spiral wound design, which allowed for a compact arrangement besides effective internal heat recovery. The system start-up was successfully carried out and experimental studies were launched on various days of August 2020. During the experiment, the average production was approximately 15.92 L/m2 ap per day while the distillate’s electoral conductivity amounted to 1865 μS/cm. Calculations revealed that the specific thermal energy consumption for the system ranged between 90 and 310 kWh/m3. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar-assisted Membrane Distillation)
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21 pages, 6497 KiB  
Article
Enhancing the Permeate Flux of Direct Contact Membrane Distillation Modules with Inserting 3D Printing Turbulence Promoters
by Hsuan Chang, Chii-Dong Ho, Yih-Hang Chen, Luke Chen, Tze-Hao Hsu, Jun-Wei Lim, Chung-Pao Chiou and Po-Hung Lin
Membranes 2021, 11(4), 266; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11040266 - 7 Apr 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2655
Abstract
Two geometric shape turbulence promoters (circular and square of same areas) of different array patterns using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology were designed for direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) modules in the present study. The DCMD device was performed at middle temperature operation (about [...] Read more.
Two geometric shape turbulence promoters (circular and square of same areas) of different array patterns using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology were designed for direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) modules in the present study. The DCMD device was performed at middle temperature operation (about 45 °C to 60 °C) of hot inlet saline water associated with a constant temperature of inlet cold stream. Attempts to reduce the disadvantageous temperature polarization effect were made inserting the 3D turbulence promoters to promote both the mass and heat transfer characteristics in improving pure water productivity. The additive manufacturing 3D turbulence promoters acting as eddy promoters could not only strengthen the membrane stability by preventing vibration but also enhance the permeate flux with lessening temperature polarization effect. Therefore, the 3D turbulence promoters were individually inserted into the flow channel of the DCMD device to create vortices in the flow stream and increase turbulent intensity. The modeling equations for predicting the permeate flux in DCMD modules by inserting the manufacturing 3D turbulence promoter were investigated theoretically and experimentally. The effects of the operating conditions under various geometric shapes and array patterns of turbulence promoters on the permeate flux with hot inlet saline temperatures and flow rates as parameters were studied. The distributions of the fluid velocities were examined using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Experimental study has demonstrated a great potential to significantly accomplish permeate flux enhancement in such new design of the DCMD system. The permeate flux enhancement for the DCMD module by inserting 3D turbulence promoters in the flow channel could provide a maximum relative increment of up to 61.7% as compared to that in the empty channel device. The temperature polarization coefficient (τtemp) was found in this study for various geometric shapes and flow patterns. A larger τtemp value (the less thermal resistance) was achieved in the countercurrent-flow operation than that in the concurrent-flow operation. An optimal design of the module with inserting turbulence promoters was also delineated when considering both permeate flux enhancement and energy utilization effectiveness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar-assisted Membrane Distillation)
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20 pages, 4892 KiB  
Article
Economic Design of Solar-Driven Membrane Distillation Systems for Desalination
by Yih-Hang Chen, Hwo-Gan Hung, Chii-Dong Ho and Hsuan Chang
Membranes 2021, 11(1), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11010015 - 24 Dec 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2819
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar-assisted Membrane Distillation)
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