Wet Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) Wastewater Treatment Using Membrane Distillation

Noah Yakah (), Imtisal-e- Noor, Andrew Martin (), Anthony Simons and Mahrokh Samavati
Additional contact information
Noah Yakah: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa P.O. Box 237, Ghana
Imtisal-e- Noor: Department of Energy Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden
Andrew Martin: Department of Energy Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden
Anthony Simons: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa P.O. Box 237, Ghana
Mahrokh Samavati: Department of Energy Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 24, 1-12

Abstract: The use of waste incineration with energy recovery is a matured waste-to-energy (WtE) technology. Waste incineration can reduce the volume and mass of municipal solid waste significantly. However, the generation of high volumes of polluting flue gases is one of the major drawbacks of this technology. Acidic gases are constituents in the flue gas stream which are deemed detrimental to the environment. The wet flue gas desulphurization (FGD) method is widely employed to clean acidic gases from flue gas streams, due to its high efficiency. A major setback of the wet FGD technology is the production of wastewater, which must be treated before reuse or release into the environment. Treating the wastewater from the wet FGD presents challenges owing to the high level of contamination of heavy metals and other constituents. Membrane distillation (MD) offers several advantages in this regard, owing to the capture of low-grade heat to drive the process. In this study the wet FGD method is adopted for use in a proposed waste incineration plant located in Ghana. Through a mass and energy flow analysis it was found that MD was well matched to treat the 20 m 3 /h of wastewater generated during operation. Thermal performance of the MD system was assessed together with two parametric studies. The thermal efficiency, gained output ratio, and specific energy consumption for the optimized MD system simulated was found to be 64.9%, 2.34 and 966 kWh/m 3 , respectively, with a total thermal energy demand of 978.6 kW.

Keywords: waste-to-energy; municipal solid waste; flue gas desulphurization; membrane distillation; thermal performance; thermal efficiency; gained output ratio; specific energy consumption (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: 2022
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