Thermal Performance of Integrated Direct Contact and Vacuum Membrane Distillation Units

Alessandra Criscuoli
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Alessandra Criscuoli: Institute on Membrane Technology (CNR-ITM), via P. Bucci 17/C, 87036 Rende, CS, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-11

Abstract: An integrated membrane distillation (MD) flowsheet, consisting of direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) and vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) units, was proposed and analysed in terms of thermal performance and water recovery factor, for the first time. The same lab-scale membrane module (40 cm 2 ) was used for carrying out experiments of DCMD and VMD at fixed feed operating conditions (deionised water at 230 L/h and ~40 °C) while working at the permeate side with deionised water at 18 °C and with a vacuum of 20 mbar for the DCMD and the VMD configuration, respectively. Based on experimental data obtained on the single modules, calculations of the permeate production, the specific thermal energy consumption (STEC) and the gained output ratio (GOR) were carried out for both single and integrated units. Moreover, the calculations were also made for a flow sheet consisting of two DCMD units in series, representing the “traditional” way in which more units of the same MD configuration are combined to enhance the water recovery factor. A significant improvement of the thermal performance (lower STEC and higher GOR) was obtained with the integrated DCMD–VMD flowsheet with respect to the DCMD units operating in series. The integration of DCMD with VMD also led to a higher permeate production and productivity/size (PS) ratio, a metric defined to compare plants in terms of the process intensification strategy.

Keywords: thermal performance; water recovery factor; direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD); vacuum membrane distillation (VMD); integrated MD units (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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