Experimental study of thermal performance in air gap membrane distillation systems, including the direct solar heating of membranes
Name
Summers-solar-membrane-heating-expt_paper-preprint.pdf
Description
Submitted version
Size
2.53 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
85d035517bd1383d6a63e7c40100ae39
Author(s)
Summers, Edward K.
Lienhard, John H
Date Issued
December 2013
Journal
Desalination
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation
Summers, Edward K. and John H. Lienhard V, "Experimental study of thermal performance in air gap membrane distillation systems, including the direct solar heating of membranes." Desalination 330 (Dec. 2013): p. 100-11 doi 10.1016/J.DESAL.2013.09.023 ©2013 Author(s)
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
Membrane distillation (MD), a thermally driven membrane technology which runs at a relatively low pressure and withstands high salinity feed streams, has shown potential as a means of desalination and water purification. This paper focuses on the air gap MD (AGMD) process experimentally with the goal of demonstrating and predicting means of improving the energy efficiency of AGMD systems. In particular, a novel configuration which delivers solar radiation directly to the membrane is investigated using a composite solar-absorbing membrane. The use of reduced pressure in the air gap, for lower diffusion resistance, was also explored. A parameter to relate the performance of a bench-scale experiment with similar membrane and gap size to a production system was developed through the application of previously developed models. Small scale experiments were conducted to verify performance for the novel solar powered configuration and the effect of reduced gap pressure. Experiments demonstrated the efficacy of a solar absorbing membrane to improve the thermal performance of the cycle beyond heating an opaque surface in contact with the feed stream. The results also establish a benefit from the deformation of the membrane into the air gap as a result of hydraulic pressure. ©2013
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Abdul Latif Jameel World Water & Food Security Lab
Rohsenow Kendall Heat Transfer Laboratory (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.DESAL.2013.09.023
