The emerging technology in wastewater treatment: Principle and

Evaluation of distillation membrane

By
Mohammed Al-Shayji
201338910
CHE 471 – Process Water Pollution Control
Term 181

Prepared for
Dr. Ihsanullah
Research Engineer-III/Assistant Professor

DESCRIPTIVE ABSTRACT

Distillation membrane is one of the leading technologies in water purification nowadays. It

brings the promises, as they said, to be one of the cost-effective processes in which the most
highly volatile component can pass the membrane, leaving the others to be separated. For
the sake of justice and to give a chance to this technology, this report will discuss the
principle that governs this process, evaluate it based on expertise background, and then
conclude with the future prospects.

[November 25, 2018]

TABLE OF CONTENTS page

1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1
2. MEMBRANE DISTILLATION TECHNOLOGY ........................................................ 2

2.1. PROCESS DEFINITION AND PRINCIPLE............................................................................ 2

2.2. CLASSIFICATION OF MD .............................................................................................. 3
2.3. PARAMETERS AFFECTING THE OPERATION .................................................................... 4
2.3.1. Feed Flow rate and permeate temperature: ........................................................... 4
2.3.2. Recirculation rate:................................................................................................ 4
2.3.3. Liquid entry pressure: .......................................................................................... 4

3. MEMBRANE SELECTION ........................................................................................... 5

4. EVALUATION................................................................................................................ 5
5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS .............................................................. 6
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................... 6

i
LIST OF FIGURES page

Figure 1. (A. Shirazi, 2015) ................................................................................................... 1

(a) Illustrates the water usage for different fields.......................................................
(b)Water shortage for various regions around the world. ...........................................
Figure 2. Schematic of MD process (Anthoula Karanasiou, 2018) ......................................... 2
Figure 3. Types of MD configuration [ DCMD, AGMD, SGMD, VMD] (A. Shirazi, 2015),
(My, 2015) ............................................................................................................................ 3
Figure 4. the increase of temperature and feed flow rate can affect the permeate flux as shown
in this figure (A. Shirazi, 2015) ............................................................................................. 4

ii
The emerging technology in wastewater treatment:
Principle and Evaluation of distillation membrane 1

1. Introduction
(a)
Water is the fundamental structure for all living
beings and it is the source that human and other
creatures sustain life, and without it, life would be
difficult. Every year, engineers and scientist
collaborate to solve water scarcity and to develop
new methods in treating water. Water treatment units
are crucial in every industrial plant since they are
operated to discharge clean water. The scarcity of
water has increased with the industrial revolution as
more wastes emerge. Wastewater is defined as a (b)

byproduct of domestic, commercial and industrial

activities. Moreover, it contains 99.9% water and
0.1% solid [Organic and Inorganic]. The
characteristic of water quality is determined through
different analysis: Observation and computational.
The observation is induced by color, turbidity,
temperature, taste, and odor. However, the
Figure 1. (A. Shirazi, 2015)
computational is the most accurate, since it cannot (a) Illustrates the water usage for different
fields
rely on feelings, is conducted based on concentration (b)Water shortage for various regions
around the world.
measurements of metals, Inorganic, toxic organics
substances, and pathogens.

Recently, a new emerging technology was found to be wastewater treatment promising and
it is called membrane distillation. The basic idea behind it is the utilization of membrane
and heat source to evaporate the undesired particles. Therefore, a gradient force will posse
on these particles to move from high source to a lower one.
The emerging technology in wastewater treatment:
Principle and Evaluation of distillation membrane 2

2. Membrane Distillation Technology

2.1. Process definition and principle

The principle of MD process is based on mass and heat transfer phenomena. The heat
transfer appears when there is a difference in temperature between the feed side and
the permeate side. The temperature across the boundary of the membrane creates a
gradient force that enhances the volatile molecules to emigrate from the feed side to
another side. Before that occurs, another force must be applied on the molecules to
move from one side to another side which is called a vapor pressure. Vapor pressure
increases at feed side and decrease at permeate side thus molecules will shift to the
side that will lower its energy state, and it is controlled by Knudsen and molecular
diffusion Consequently, these phenomena are applied on the system near the
membrane. A basic summary of MD process is shown below.

2
3

Figure 2. Schematic of MD process (Anthoula Karanasiou, 2018)

(1) Development of vapor gap (pressure) at the membrane interface.

(2) Transportation of particles through the hydrophobic micropores membrane.
(3) Condensation of volatile particles at cold side.
The emerging technology in wastewater treatment:
Principle and Evaluation of distillation membrane 3

2.2. Classification of MD

Four types were investigated for so many years, Direct contact, Sweeping gas,
Vacuum, and Air-gap membrane distillation. The main objective is to overcome the
issues with the previous model, to increase the efficiency of the process, and to ensure
the product quality. Furthermore, the vital difference is the method used to condense
the vapor and to form a potential difference in vapor pressure across the membrane,
hence, more permeation flux would be generated. The summary of four types is shown
below.

Figure 3. Types of MD configuration [ DCMD, AGMD, SGMD, VMD] (A. Shirazi, 2015), (My, 2015)
The emerging technology in wastewater treatment:
Principle and Evaluation of distillation membrane 4

2.3. Parameters affecting the operation

2.3.1. Feed Flow rate and permeate temperature:

Recent study by (A. Shirazi, 2015) has illustrated the effect of feed flow rate, and
feed temperature on the performance of SGMD. It was found that the permeate
flux increases with high temperature and high flow rate.

Figure 4. the increase of temperature and feed flow rate can affect the permeate flux as shown in this
figure (A. Shirazi, 2015)

2.3.2. Recirculation rate:

A higher permeate flux can be attained at higher recirculation rate (Onsekizoglu,

2016), due to the increase in heat transfer coefficient and decrease in boundary
layer resistance. Despite this advantage, it consumes higher energy per
recirculation.

2.3.3. Liquid entry pressure:

It is the gradient force needed to permeate micropores membrane due to the

difference in pressure. LEP must be higher than the feed liquid pressure so only
desire component can penetrate the membrane (Anthoula Karanasiou, 2018). in
order to achieve high LEF, membrane should have high contact angle, small pore
size, and low surface energy.
The emerging technology in wastewater treatment:
Principle and Evaluation of distillation membrane 5

3. Membrane selection
The most important in membrane distillation is the membrane selection. It should be pours
and has low affinity to water (hydrophobic). Moreover, the performance of such process is
highly depended on membrane material, Membrane porosity, Membrane type, and
membrane thicknesses (My, 2015). The material of membrane is prepared with low thermal
conductivity and high permeability to avoid heat loss at the membrane boundary and to
increase the mass transfer respectively. For example, the most usable polymers in MD
application are polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polypropylene (PP). Moreover,
membrane with high porosity increase the permeate flux by order of magnitude than
membrane with low porosity.

4. Evaluation
Membrane distillation has advantages and drawbacks over other techniques.

The major advantages are:

 The material of construction is cheap.
 The process is cost effective in terms of equipment’s and low operating
temperature since it can be conducted at low temperature (below 70 co)
 The process can be fully automated; thus, it reduces number of labors and It needs
less space
 It is a low sensitivity to concentration polarization.

The major drawbacks:

 Fabrication of membrane and manufacturing of membrane distillation are difficult

to find since there are limited providers.
 The permeate flux is less than other process in the same category.
The emerging technology in wastewater treatment:
Principle and Evaluation of distillation membrane 6

5. Conclusion and future prospects

In conclusion, membrane distillation is one of the innovative technologies that increase
radically in the last decades. However, lack of popularity and commercial uses makes it
challenging for future implementation. Despite this issue, the membrane distillation process
has a potential in desalination and wastewater treatment. It can be coupled with any source
of energy such as solar energy or even geothermal energy; hence, it reduces energy
consumption. Moreover, the process has an excellent research area where membrane can be
excessively studied and developed for wastewater treatment such as designing membrane
with proper thermal stability, fouling resistance, porosity, and permeability. Because most
of the available membranes are for the desalination process and hence, it is not feasible to
be used for wastewater treatment. The reason behind that, wastewater contains a variety of
debris such as micro-organism, heavy metals and more that leads to fouling of the membrane
surface. As a result of this fouling, the membrane hydrophobicity and pore wetting will
decrease with time and the permeate flux will decrease as well.

References

[1] A. Shirazi, K. A. (2015). A review on application of membrane distillation (MD)

process for wastewater treatment. Research Gate.
[2] Anthoula Karanasiou, M. K. (2018). An Experimental and Theoretical Study on
Separations by Vacuum Membrane Distillation Employing Hollow-Fiber Modules.
MDPI.
[3] My, D. L. (2015). Membrane Distillation Application in Purification and Process
Intensification . Asian Institute of Technology .
[4] Onsekizoglu, P. (2016). Membrane Distillation: Principle, Advances, Limitations and
Future Prospects in Food Industry. InTech.