• 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.