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Membrane distillation is a thermally driven separational process in which separation is enabled due to phase change. A hydrophobic membrane displays a barrier for the liquid phase, letting the vapour phase (e.g. water vapour) pass through the membrane's pores. The driving force of the process is given by a partial vapour pressure difference commonly triggered by a temperature difference.
Contents
1 Principle of membrane distillation 1.1 Membrane distillation techniques 1.2 Direct-contact MD 1.3 Air-gap MD 1.4 Sweeping-gas MD 1.5 Vacuum MD 1.6 Permeate-gap MD 1.7 Vacuum multi-effect membrane distillation 2 Application 3 Solar-powered membrane distillation 4 Activities 5 References 6 Literature 7 External links
REM-image of a PTFE membrane
Direct-contact MD
In DCMD, both sides of the membrane are charged with liquid- hot feed water on the evaporator side and cooled permeate on the permeate side. The condensation of the
vapour passing through the membrane happens directly inside the liquid phase at the membrane boundary surface. Since the membrane is the only barrier blocking the mass transport, relatively high surface related permeate flows can be achieved with DCMD. A disadvantage is the high sensible heat loss, as the insulating properties of the single membrane layer are low. However, a high heat loss between evaporator and condenser is also the result of the single layer. This lost heat is not available to the distillation process whereby its efficiency is lowered.
Air-gap MD
In air-gap MD, the evaporator channel resembles that in DCMD, whereas the permeate gap lies between the membrane and a cooled walling and is filled with air. The vapour passing through the membrane must additionally overcome this air gap before condensing on the cooler surface. The advantage of this method is the high thermal insulation towards the condenser channel, thus minimizing heat conduction losses. However, the disadvantage is that the air gap represents an additional barrier for mass transport, reducing the surface- related permeate output compared to DCMD. A further advantage towards DCMD is the fact, that volatile substances with a low surface tension such as alcohol or other solvents can be separated from diluted solutions, due to the fact that there is no contact between the liquid permeate and the membrane with AGMD.
Schematic AGMD arrangement
Sweeping-gas MD
Sweeping-gas MD, also known as air stripping, uses a channel configuration with an empty gap on Schematic DCMD arrangement the permeate side. This configuration is the same as in AGMD. Condensation of the vapour takes place outside the MD module in an external condenser. As with AGMD, volatile substances with a low surface tension can be distilled with this process. The advantage of SWGMD over AGMD is the significant reduction of the barrier to the mass transport through forced flow. Hereby higher surfacerelated productwater mass flows can be achieved than with AGMD. A disadvantage of SWGMD caused by the gas component and therefore the higher total mass flow, is the necessity of a higher condenser capacity. When using smaller gas mass flows there is a risk of the gas heating itself at the hot membrane surface, thus reducing the vapour pressure difference and therefore the driving force. One solution of this problem for SWGMD and for AGMD is the use of a cooled walling for the permeate channel, and maintaining temperature by flushing it with gas.
Vacuum MD
Vacuum MD contains an air gap channel configuration. Once it has passed through the membrane, the vapour is sucked out of the permeate channel and condenses outside the module as with SWGMD. Schematic VCMD VCMD and DWGMD can be applied for the separation of volatile substances from a watery solution or arrangement for the generation of pure water from concentrated salt water. One advantage of this method is that Schematic SWGMD undissolved inert gasses blocking the membrane pores are sucked out by the vacuum, leaving a larger arrangement effective membrane surface active. Furthermore, a reduction of the boiling point results in a comparable amount of product at lower overall temperatures and lower temperature differences through the membrane. A lower required temperature difference leaves a lower total- and specific thermal energy demand. However, the generation of a vacuum, which must be adjusted to the salt water temperature, requires complex technical equipment and is therefore a disadvantage to this method. The electrical energy demand is a lot higher as with DCMD and AGMD. An additional problem is the increase of the pH value due to the removal of CO2 from the feed water.
Permeate-gap MD
In the following, the principle channel configuration and operating method of a standard DCMD module as well as a DCMD module with separate permeate gap shall be explained. The design in the image to the right depicts a flat channel configuration, but can also be understood as a schema for flat-, hollow fibre - or spiral wound modules. The complete channel configuration consists of a condenser channel with inlet and outlet and an evaporator channel with inlet and outlet. These two channels are separated by the hydrophobic, micro porous membrane. For cooling, the condenser channel is flooded with fresh water and the evaporator e.g. with salty feed water. The coolant enters the condenser channel at a temperature of 20C. After passing through the membrane, the vapour condenses in the cooling water, Schematic image of a DCMD channel configuration releasing its latent heat and leading to a temperature increase in the coolant. Sensible heat conduction also heats the cooling water through the surface of the membrane. Due to the mass transport through the membrane the mass flow in the evaporator decreases whilst the condenser channel increases by the same amount. The mass flow of pre-heated coolant leaves the condenser channel at a temperature of about 72C and enters a heat exchanger, thus pre-heating the feed water. This feed water is then delivered to a further heat source and finally enters the evaporator channel of the MD module at a temperature of 80 C. The evaporation process extracts latent heat from the feed flow, which cools down the feed increasingly in flow direction. Additional heat reduction occurs due to sensible heat passing through the membrane. The cooled feed water leaves the evaporator channel at approximately 28C. Total temperature differences between condenser inlet and evaporator outlet and condenser inlet and evaporator outlet are about equal. In a PGMD module, the permeate channel is separated from the condenser channel by a condensation surface. This enables the direct use of a salt water feed as coolant, since it does not come into contact with the permeate. Considering this, the cooling-or feed water entering the condenser channel at a temperature T1 can now also be used to cool the permeate. Condensation of vapour takes place inside the liquid permeate. Pre-heated feed water that was used to cool the condenser can be conducted directly to a heat source for final heating, after leaving the condenser at a temperature T2. After it has reached
temperature T3 it is guided into the evaporator. Permeate is extracted at temperature T5 and the cooled brine is discharged at temperature T4. An advantage of PGMD towards DCMD is the direct use of feed water as cooling liquid inside the module and therefore the necessity of only one heat exchanger to heat the feed before entering the evaporator. Hereby heat conduction losses are reduced and expensive components can be cut. A further advantage is the separation of permeate from coolant. Therefore, the permeate does not have to be extracted later in the process and the coolant's mass flow in the condenser channel remains constant. The low flow velocity of the permeate in the permeate gap is a disadvantage of this configuration, as it leads to a poor heat conduction from the membrane surface to the condenser walling. High temperatures on the permeate side's membrane bounding surface are the result of this effect (temperature polarisation), which lowers the vapour pressure difference and therefore the driving force of the process. However, it is beneficial, that the heat conduction losses through the membrane are also lowered by this effect. Compared to AGMD a higher surface related permeate output is achieved, as the mass flow is not additionally inhibited by the diffusion resistance of an air layer.[1]
Evaporationcondensation stages: Stages are composed of alternative hydrophobic membrane and foil (Polypropylene, PP) frames. Feed (e.g. seawater) is introduced into stage 1 of the module. Feed flows serially through the evaporationcondensation stages. At the end of last stage, it is ejected as brine. Stage 1: Steam from the evaporator condenses on a PP foil at pressure level P1 and corresponding temperature T1. The combination of a foil and a hydrophobic membrane creates a channel for the feed, where the feed is heated by the heat of condensation of the vapour from the steam raiser. Feed evaporates under the negative pressure P2. The vacuum is always applied to the permeate side of the membranes. Stage [2, 3, 4, x]: This process is replicated in further stages and each stage is at a lower pressure and temperature. Condenser: The vapour produced in the final evaporationcondensation stage is condensed in the condenser, using the coolant flow (e.g. seawater). Distillate production: Condensed distillate is transported via the bottom of each stage by pressure difference between stages. Design of memsys module: Inside each memsys frame, and between frames, channels are created. Foil frames are the distillate channels. Membrane frames are the vapour channels. Between foil and membrane frames, feed channels are created. Vapour enters the stage and flows into parallel foil frames. The only option of for the vapour entering the foil frames is to condense, i.e. vapour enters a dead-end foil frame. Although it is called a dead-end frame, it does contain a small channel to remove the non-condensable gases and to apply the vacuum. The condensed vapour flows into a distillate channel. The heat of condensation is transported through the foil and is immediately converted into evaporation energy, generating new vapour in the seawater feed channel. The feed channel is limited by one condensing foil and a membrane.The vapour leaves the membrane channels and is collected in a main vapour channel. The vapour leaves the stage via this channel and enters the next stage. memsys has developed a highly automated production line for the modules and could be easily extended. As the memsys process works at modest low temperatures (<90C) and moderate negative pressure, all module components are made of polypropylene (PP). This eliminates corrosion and scaling and allows largeDifferent numbers of memsys frame are friction welded as memsys module (e.g. steam raiser, membrane stage and condenser). GOR and capacity of memsys module can be easily modified deponding on the application or customer's needs. The hydrophobic membranes (or PP foils) are welded at both sides of the memsys frame. This frame are disigned to combine and distribute vapor, feed, non condensable gas and distillate flows.
Application
Typical applications of membrane distillation are: Seawater desalination Brackish water desalination Process water treatment Water purification Removal/Concentration of ammonium Resource concentration
ISE began developing MD modules as well as installing and analysing two different solar powered operating systems, together with other project parters. The first system type is a so-called compact system, designed to produce a drinking water output of 100-120 l/day from sea-or brackish water. The main aim of the system design is a simple, self-sufficient, low maintenance and robust plant for target markets in arid and semi-arid areas of low infra structure. The second system type is a so-called two-loop plant with a capacity of around 2000 l/day. Here, the collector circuit is separated from the desalination circuit by a saltwater resistant heat exchanger.[1] Based on these two system types, a various number of prototypes were developed, installed and observed. The standard configuration of today's (2011) compact system is able to produce a distillate output of up to 150 l/day. The required thermal energy is supplied by a 6,5 m solar thermal collector field. Electrical energy is supplied by a 75 W PV-module. This system type is currently being developed further and marketed by the Solar Spring GmbH,[2] a Spin -Off of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Within the MEDIRAS project- a further EU-project, an enhanced two-loop system was installed on the Island of Gran Canary. Built inside a 20 ft container and equipped with a collector aray size of 225 m, a heat storage tank makes a distillate output of up to 3000 l/day possible. Further applications with up to 5000 l/day have also been implemented, either 100% solar powered or as hybrid projects in combination with waste heat. Exemplary systems
Plant design of a compact system
Membrane distillation plant, installed inside a 20ft ship container with integrated heat storage (Location: Namibia)
Solar powered two-loop plant with 12 MD modules and a capacity of ~3000 L/day (Location: Gran Canary)
Activities
There are various companies and research institutes working with and investigating membrane distillation. Here are some of the most relevant ones: Aquaver, Netherlands.[3] Aquaver is part of the Ecover Group.[4] Fraunhofer Institut fr solare Energiesysteme ISE, Freiburg, Germany [5] Instituto Tecnolgico de Canarias, S.A., Spain [6] UNIVERSITY OF CALABRIA. Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials, Italy [7] ITM-CNR. Istituto per la Tecnologia delle Membrane, Italy [8] memsys clearwater Pte. Ltd., Singapore [9] Keppel Seghers, Belgium [10] Plataforma Solar de Almera, Spain [11] Scarab Development AB, Sweden [12] SolarSpring GmbH, Freiburg, Germany [13] Universit Degli Studi Di Palermo, Italy [14]
References
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. ^ a b c Joachim Koschikowski: Entwicklung von energieautark arbeitenden Wasserentsalzungsanlagen auf Basis der Membrandestillation Fraunhofer Verlag, 2011, 3839602602 ^ "SolarSpring GmbH" (http://www.solarspring.de/) ^ "Aquaver" (http://www.aquaver.eu/) ^ "Ecover" (http://www.ecover.com/) ^ [www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/ "ISE"] ^ "Instituto Tecnolgico de Canarias" (http://www.itccanarias.org) ^ "Universit della Calabria - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica e dei Materiali" (http://dicem.unical.it) ^ "Istituto per la Tecnologia delle Membrane" (http://www.itm.cnr.i) ^ "memsys" (http://www.memsys.eu/) ^ [www.keppelseghers.com/en "Keppel Seghers"] ^ "Plataforma Solar Almeria" (http://www.psa.es/) ^ "Scarab" (http://www.scarab.se/) ^ [solarspring.de/ "SolarSpring"] ^ "Universit Degli Studi Di Palermo" (http://www.unipa.it/)
Literature
H. E. Hoemig: Seawater and Seawater Distillation Vulkan-Verlag, 1978, 3802724380 Winter, D.; Koschikowski, J.; Wieghaus, M.:Desalination using membrane distillation: Experimental studies on full scale spiral wound modules. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376738811002067) Fraunhofer ISE, Freiburg 2011. E. Curcio, E. Drioli: "Membrane Distillation and Related OperationsA Review", Separation & Purification Reviews 34/1 (2005) 35-85
External links
PRODES Project (http://www.prodes-project.org/) MEDIRAS Project (http://www.mediras.eu/) MEDINA Project (http://medina.unical.it/) Greenlysis Project (http://www.life-greenlysis.eu/) REAPower Project (http://www.reapower.eu/) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Membrane_distillation&oldid=535578298" Categories: Distillation This page was last modified on 29 January 2013 at 21:28. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.