Published March 4, 2024 | Version v1
Publication Open

Influence of internal design on the performance of pilot vacuum-assisted air-gap membrane distillation modules for brine concentration with solar energy

  • 1. CIEMAT - Plataforma Solar de Almería
  • 2. Centro Mixto CIESOL - Universidad de Almería

Description

Membrane distillation (MD) in batch operation is proposed for brine concentration with solar energy in zero liquid discharge (ZLD) desalination processes, but there are some research gaps yet. Energy efficiency is key for implementing the technology with solar energy and there is not enough experience and experimental results of operation of MD pilot modules at high salinity feeds. This research focuses on the experimental evaluation and comparison of two multi-envelope spiral wound commercial membrane distillation modules operating in vacuum-assisted air gap MD at the solar MD pilot facilities of Plataforma Solar de Almería in Spain. These modules have similar membrane area (24 and 25.9 m2) and residence time (large, to maximize thermal efficiency), but different internal design: 6 envelopes 5 m long and 12 envelopes 2.7 m long, respectively. This difference affects mostly the feed circulation velocity for equal feed flow rate. Performance parameters such as permeate production and specific thermal energy consumption (STEC) are compared and experimental models performed and validated for different feed salinities. Permeate quality and specific electrical energy (SEEC) consumption are also evaluated. The results show that the best module for batch operation is the one with a larger number of channels but of shorter length.

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Additional details

Funding

European Commission
Sol2H2O - European Twinning for research in Solar energy to (2) water (H2O) production and treatment technologies 101079305