Commercial scale membrane distillation for solar desalination

Membrane distillation is an attractive technology for solar-powered decentralized desalination that has not yet reached commercial breakthrough on a large scale. The main barriers are energy consumption and cost. Since the latter are mostly related to the former, thermal energy efficiency is key to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:npj clean water 2018-10, Vol.1 (1), Article 20
Main Authors: Zaragoza, G., Andrés-Mañas, J. A, Ruiz-Aguirre, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/766/25
704/172
Air gaps
Aquatic Pollution
Boundary conditions
Desalination
Distillation
Earth and Environmental Science
Energy consumption
Energy costs
Energy efficiency
Environment
Heat
Heat recovery
Heat recovery systems
Hollow fiber membranes
Membranes
Nanotechnology
Perspective
Solar energy
Solar power
Spiral wound modules
Thermal energy
Vacuum
Vacuum distillation
Waste Water Technology
Water Industry/Water Technologies
Water Management
Water Pollution Control
Water Quality/Water Pollution
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Summary:Membrane distillation is an attractive technology for solar-powered decentralized desalination that has not yet reached commercial breakthrough on a large scale. The main barriers are energy consumption and cost. Since the latter are mostly related to the former, thermal energy efficiency is key to assessing the potential of the different available membrane distillation systems at a commercial scale. As discussed here, existing membrane distillation technologies use mostly flat sheet membranes in plate and frame and spiral-wound modules. Modules based on hollow fibre membranes are also considered, as well as the concept of multi-effect vacuum membrane distillation for improved heat recovery. The heat efficiency of each system is analysed based on available experimental results. Better internal heat recovery and capacity for upscaling are found to be important elements of distinction which make multi-channelled spiral-wound modules working in air-gap configuration stand out currently, with the lowest heat consumption of all large scale modules. Potential for improvement of this and other technologies is also discussed, and an estimation based on the associated costs for solar energy is used for establishing boundary conditions towards the implementation of membrane distillation for solar desalination.
ISSN:2059-7037
2059-7037
DOI:10.1038/s41545-018-0020-z