• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.240-248
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• 2014

Porous PVDF hollow fiber membranes were prepared by hybrid process of TIPS(thermally induced phase separation) and stretching for membrane distillation. The tests were conducted to investigate that permeability of the membrane could be enhanced by reducing membrane wall thickness. During fiber spinning, dope discharge rate from nozzle was reduced and flow rate of bore fluid increased to make the wall thickness thinner. As dope discharge rate from nozzle was reduced and flow rate of bore fluid increased, the membrane wall thickness was reduced. As a result, air permeability, water permeability and vapor permeability of the membranes increased.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.441-447
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• 2016

Development of shale gas has drawn increasing attention since it is one of promising alternative energy resources. However, contamination of groundwater and surface water during the extraction of shale gas is becoming a serious environmental issues, which brings the needs to treat wastewater generated from hydraulic fracking. In this study, the feasibility of membrane distillation (MD) for the treatment of shale gas wastewater was investigated using a laboratory scale experimental setup. Flat-sheet MD membranes were used to treat produced water from a shale gas well in the United States. Different configurations such as direct contact MD (DCMD) and air gap MD (AGMD) were compared in terms of flux and fouling propensity. The foulants on the surface of the membranes were examined. The results suggest that MD can treat the shale gas produced water containing more than 200,000 mg/L of total dissolved solids, which is impossible by other technologies such as reverse osmosis (RO) and forward osmosis (FO). In this study, we investigated the possibility of processing and characterization of shale gas produce wastewater using membrane distillation. Laboratory scale membrane distillation experimental device was developed. It was compared the flat-sheet direct contact membrane distillation and flat-sheet air gap membrane distillation. AGMD flux in lower than the flux of DCMD, it was expected that the contamination caused by organic matters.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.529-541
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• 2017

A multi-effect air gap membrane distillation (ME-AGMD) module for pesticide wastewater treatment is studied with internal heat recovery, sensible heat of brine recovery, number of stages and the use of fresh feed as cooling water in a single module is implemented in this study. A flat sheet polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE) membrane was used in the 4-stage ME-AGMD module. The maximum value of permeate flux could reach $38.62L/m^2h$ at feed -coolant water temperature difference about $52^{\circ}C$. The performance parameter of the module like, specific energy consumption and gain output ratio (GOR) was investigated for the module with and without heat recovery. Also, the module performance was characterized with respect to the separation efficiency of several important water quality parameters. The removal efficiency of the module was found to be >98.8% irrespective water quality parameters. During the experiment the membrane fouling was caused due to the deposition of the salt/crystal on the membrane surface. The membrane fouling was controlled by membrane module washing cycle 9 h and also by acidification of the feed water (pH=4) using 0.1M HCl solution.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.30-34
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• 2014

Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermal driven separation process in which separation a hydrophobic membrane is a barrier for the liquid phase, letting the vapor phase pass through the membrane pores. Therefore, a porous and hydrophobic membrane should be used in membrane distillation. MD cannot work if water penetrates into the pores of the membrane (membrane wetting). Accordingly, it is necessary to prevent wetting of MD membranes and to remove water inside the pores of the wetted membranes if possible. In this context, our study aimed to develop methods to recover wetted membranes in MD processes. Poly-vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes were used in this study. A laboratory-scale direct contact MD (DCMD) system was used to examine the effect of operating parameters on wetting. For dewetting the wetted membranes, specific techniques including the use of high temperature air were applied. The performances of the membranes before and after dewetting were compared in terms of flux, salt rejection and liquid entry pressure(LEP). The surface morphology of dewetted membrane was confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM).

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.216-222
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• 2015

The method measuring LEP (liquid entry pressure) was optimized to evaluate the wettabilities of hydrophobic membranes which might affect long-term durability of membrane in MD (membrane distillation) process. Conductivity of the permeate was monitored to measure the LEPs of PE (polyethylene) and PVDF (polyvinylidene di-fluoride) hollow fiber membranes from highly concentrated synthetic feed water of 20 wt% NaCl. Holding time over 5 min and the ratio of membrane area to the tank volume more than $10m^2/m^3$ were required to ensure LEP value.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.363-374
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• 2020

Membrane distillation (MD) is a process used for water desalination. However, its commercialization is still hindered by its increased specific cost of production. In this work, several process configurations comprising Direct Contact and Permeate Gap distillation membrane units (PGMD/DCMD) were investigated to maximize the production rate and consequently reduce the specific water cost. The analysis was based on a cost model and an experimentally validated MD model. It was revealed that the best achievable water cost was approximately 5.1 $/㎥ with a production rate of 8000 ㎥/y. This cost can be further decreased to approximately 2 $/㎥ only if the heating and cooling energies are free of cost. Therefore, it is necessary to decrease the MD capital investment to produce pure water at economical prices.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.367-375
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• 2016

Although the bucky paper (BP) made from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possesses beneficial characteristics of hydrophobic nature and high porosity for membrane distillation (MD) application, weak mechanical strength of BP has often prevented the stable operation. This study aims to fabricate the BP with high mechanical strength to improve its MD performance. The strategy was to increase the purity level of CNTs with an assumption that purer CNTs would increase the Van der Waals attraction, leading to the improvement of mechanical strength of BP. According to this study results, the purification of CNT does not necessarily enhance the mechanical strength of BP. The BP made from purer CNTs demonstrated a high flux ($142kg/m^2{\cdot}h$) even at low ${\Delta}T$ ($50^{\circ}C$ and $20^{\circ}C$) during the experiments of direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). However, the operation was not stable because a crack quickly formed. Then, a support layer of AAO (anodic aluminum oxide) filter paper was introduced to reinforce the mechanical strength of BP. The support reinforcement was able to increase the mechanical strength, but wetting occurred. Therefore, the mixed matrix membrane (PSf-CNT) using CNTs as filler to polysulphone was fabricated. The DCMD operation with the PSf-CNT membrane was stable, although the flux was low ($6.1kg/m^2{\cdot}h$). This result suggests that the mixed matrix membrane could be more beneficial for the stable DCMD operation than the BP.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.451-476
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• 2015

Membrane distillation (MD), which can utilize low-grade thermal energy, has been extensively studied for desalination. By incorporating solar thermal energy, the solar membrane distillation desalination system (SMDDS) is a potential technology for resolving the energy and water resource problems. Small-scale SMDDS (s-SMDDS) is an attractive and viable option for the production of fresh water for small communities in remote arid areas. The minimum-cost design and operation of s-SMDDS are determined by a systematic method, which involves a pseudo steady state approach for equipment sizing and the dynamic optimization using overall system mathematical models. The s-SMDDS employing three MD configurations, including the air gap (AGMD), direct contact (DCMD) and vacuum (VMD) types, are optimized. The membrane area of each system is $11.5m^2$. The AGMD system operated for 500 kg/day water production rate gives the lowest unit cost of $5.92/m^3$. The performance ratio and recovery ratio are 0.85 and 4.07%, respectively. For the commercial membrane employed in this study, the increase of membrane mass transfer coefficient up to two times is beneficial for cost reduction and the reduction of membrane heat transfer coefficient only affects the cost of the DCMD system.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.51-62
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• 2022

Vacuum-assisted air gap membrane distillation (V-AGMD) has the potential to achieve higher flux and productivity than conventional air gap membrane distillation (AGMD). Nevertheless, there is not much information on technical aspects of V-AGMD operation. Accordingly, this study aims to analyze the effect of membrane deformation on flux in V-AGMD operation. Experiments were carried out using a bench-scale V-AGMD system. Statistical models were applied to understand the flux behaviors. Statistical models based on MLR, GNN, and MLFNN techniques were developed to describe the experimental data. Results showed that the flux increased by up to 4 times with the application of vacuum in V-AGMD compared with conventional AGMD. The flux in both AGMD and V-AGMD is affected by the difference between the air gap pressure and the saturation pressure of water vapor, but their dependences were different. In V-AGMD, the membranes were found to be deformed due to the vacuum pressure because they were not fully supported by the spacer. As a result, the deformation reduced the effective air gap width. Nevertheless, the rejection and LEP were not changed even if the deformation occurred. The flux behaviors in V-AGMD were successfully interpreted by the GNN and MLFNN models. According to the model calculations, the relative impact of the membrane deformation ranges from 10.3% to 16.1%.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.238-241
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• 2008