Experimental Study on a Multi-stage Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) Unit

Authors

  • Rubina Bahar Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • M. N. A. Hawlader Department of Mechanical Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • K. C. Ng Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Yee Jiun Haw Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11113/jt.v69.3403

Keywords:

Air gap membrane distillation (AGMD), hydrophobic membrane, PVDF membrane, multi-stage membrane distillation, energy efficiency, water/power ratio

Abstract

Membrane distillation (MD) is a separation process that involves vapour transport through a hydrophobic membrane. The evaporation is caused by the partial pressure difference between a hot fluid and cold fluid/surface. In this study, an air gap MD (AGMD) process is utilized to produce freshwater from saline solution. A multi-stage AGMD unit with 0.45 mm pore size Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) membranes is built and experiments have been carried out with different operating variables including feed temperature, coolant temperature, air gap width and feed inlet concentration.A maximum of 12.9 kg/m2 of distillate flux was obtained per kWh energy input from the multi-stage MD unit while for a previously built single-stage MD unit, the highest water/power ratio obtained was only 2.3 kg /m2 kWh. This variation indicates that multistaging is necessary for efficeint energy use in MD system.

 

References

Weyl, P. K. 1967. Recovery of Demineralized Water from Saline waters.United States Patent no. 3,340,186.

Andersson, S. I., Kjellander, N. and Rodesjo, B.1985. Design and Field Test of a New Membrane Distillation Desalination Process. Desalination. 56: 345–354

Wirth, D. and Cabassud, C. 2002. Water Desalination Using Membrane Distillation: Comparison Between Inside/Out and Outside/In Permeation. Desalination. 147: 139–145.

Hawlader, M. N. A., Bahar, R., Ng, K. C. and Stanley, L. J. W. 2012. Transport Analysis of an Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) Process. Desalination and Water treatment. 42: 333–346.

Banat, F. A., and Simandl, J. 1994. Theoretical and Experimental Study in Membrane Distillation. Desalination. 95: 39–52.

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Published

2014-08-20

Issue

Vol. 69 No. 9: Special Issue on Sustainable Membrane Technology for Energy, Water & Environment

Section

Science and Engineering

License

Copyright of articles that appear in Jurnal Teknologi belongs exclusively to Penerbit Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Penerbit UTM Press). This copyright covers the rights to reproduce the article, including reprints, electronic reproductions, or any other reproductions of similar nature.

How to Cite

Experimental Study on a Multi-stage Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) Unit. (2014). Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering), 69(9). https://doi.org/10.11113/jt.v69.3403