Performance of Air Gap Membrane Distillation for Desalination of Ground Water and Seawater

Membrane distillation (MD) is a rising technology for seawater or brine desalination process. In this work, an air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) performance was investigated for aqueous NaCl solution along with natural ground water and seawater. In order to enhance the performance of the AGMD process in desalination, that is, to get more flux, it is necessary to study the effect of operating parameters on the yield of distillate water. The influence of operational parameters such as feed flow rate, feed temperature, feed salt concentration, coolant temperature and air gap thickness on the membrane distillation (MD) permeation flux have been investigated for low and high salt solution. the natural application of ground water and seawater over 90 h continuous operation, scale deposits observed on the membrane surface and reduction in flux represents 23% for ground water and 60% for seawater, in 90 h. This reduction was eliminated (less than 14 %) by acidification of feed water. Hence, promote the research attention in apply of AGMD for the ground water as well as seawater desalination over today-s conventional RO operation.

Authors:

• Bhausaheb L. Pangarkar
• M.G. Sane

Keywords:

• MD
• ground water
• seawater
• AGMD.

References:

[1] Semih Otles and Serkan Otles, "Desalination Techniques", Electron. J.
Environ. Agric. Food Chem., 2004, pp. 963-969.
[2] L. Muthumariappan, "Energy conservation systems in reverse osmosis
desalination plants", TWAD Technical Newsletter, January 2004.
[3] Bart Van der Bruggen, Carlo Vandecasteele, "Distillation vs. membrane
filtration: overview of process evolutions in seawater desalination",
Desalination, vol. 143, 2002, pp. 207-218.
[4] Sai R. Pinappu, "Composite membranes for membrane distillation
desalination process", Final report, New Mexico State University, 2010.
[5] O. T. Komeslia, K. Teschnerb, W. Hegemannb, C. F. Gokcay, "Vacuum
membrane applications in domestic wastewater reuse", Desalination,
vol. 215, 2007, pp. 22-28.
[6] G.W. Meindersma, C.M. Guijt, A.B. de Haan, "Desalination and water
recycling by air gap membrane distillation", Desalination, vol. 187,
2006, pp. 291-301.
[7] Jian-Mei Li, Zhi-Kang Xu, Zhen-Mei Liu, Wen-Feng Yuan, Hui Xiang,
Shu-Yuan Wang, You-Yi Xu, "Micro porous polypropylene and
polyethylene hollow fibre membranes: Part 3. Experimental studies on
membrane distillation for desalination", Desalination, vol. 155, 2003,
pp. 153-156.
[8] T. Mohammadi, M. Akbarabadi, "Separation of ethylene glycol solution
by vacuum membrane distillation (VMD)", Desalination, vol. 181, 2005,
pp. 35-41.
[9] Ying Xu, Bao-Ku Zhu, You-yi Xu, "Pilot test of vacuum membrane
distillation for desalination on a ship", Desalination, vol. 189, 2006, pp.
165-169.
[10] Zhao Jin, Da Ling Yang, Shou Hai Zhang, Xi Gao Jian, "Hydrophobic
modification of poly (phthalazinone ether sulfone ketone) hollow fiber
membrane for vacuum membrane distillation", J. Membr. Sci., vol. 310,
2008, pp. 20-27.
[11] M. Khayet, M.P. Godino, J.I. Mengual, "Theoretical and experimental
studies on desalination using the sweeping gas membrane distillation
method", Desalination, vol. 157 2003, pp. 297-305.
[12] J.I. Mengual, M. Khayet, M.P. Godino, "Heat and mass transfer in
vacuum membrane distillation", Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 47,
2004, pp. 865-875.
[13] H. Chang, C.L. Chang, C.D. Ho, C.C. Li, P.H. Wang, "Experimental and
simulation of an air gap membrane distillation module with solar
absorption function for desalination", Desalination and Water
Treatment, vol. 25, 2011, pp. 251-258.
[14] Manickam Matheswaran, Tae Ouk Kwon, Jae Woo Kim, Shik Moon,
"Factors affecting flux and water separation performance in air gap
membrane distillation", J. Ind. Eng. Chem., vol. 13, no. 6, 2007, pp. 965-
970.
[15] Alaa Kullab, Andrew Martin, "Membrane distillation and applications
for water purification in thermal cogeneration plants", Separation and
Purification Technology, vol. 76, 2011, pp. 231-237.