Developing and validating a dynamic model of water production by direct-contact membrane distillation

Emad Ali, Jamel Orfi and Abdullah Najib

PLOS ONE, 2020, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: We consider the development and fitting of a dynamic model for desalinated water production by a direct-contact membrane distillation (DCMD) unit. Two types of dynamic-model structures, namely, lumped parameter and spatial, were evaluated. Both the models were validated using experimental response data generated by step testing the inlet hot stream temperature of a DCMD pilot plant. Both the model structures failed to follow the dynamic response adequately. However, a modification of the model by adding a heat loss term resulted in enhanced predictions for both model structures. The overall relative error in the model–plant mismatch was approximately 3%. This is reasonable considering the random uncertainties associated with the plant operation. This observation also improves our understanding of the importance of using better correlations for heat-transfer coefficients, to develop a more reliable and accurate predictive model for a wide range of operating conditions.

Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0230207

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230207

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