Performance Analysis of an Eductor-Based Membrane Distillation Unit

Thermal desalination technologies involve two primary processes: vapor generation from saline water, and effective recovery of the resulting condensate. Membrane distillation (MD) systems are among the emerging thermal desalination technologies which use a hydrophobic membrane to recover condensate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWater (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 22; p. 3624
Main Authors Koirala, Ravi, Ve, Quoc Linh, Rupakheti, Eliza, Inthavong, Kiao, Date, Abhijit
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2022
Subjects
Alternative energy sources
compact design
Comparative analysis
Condensates
Condensation
Desalination
Design optimization
Distillation
Distilled water
eductor
Energy resources
Energy transfer
Heat
Hydraulic jets
Hydrophobicity
membrane distillation
Membrane filters
Membranes
Methods
Parameter sensitivity
Saline water
Saline water conversion
System effectiveness
Technology
Thermal energy
Vacuum
Vacuum distillation
Vacuum pumps
Vapors
Australia
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Summary:Thermal desalination technologies involve two primary processes: vapor generation from saline water, and effective recovery of the resulting condensate. Membrane distillation (MD) systems are among the emerging thermal desalination technologies which use a hydrophobic membrane to recover condensate through either direct or indirect contact (with the cooling fluid) condensation. The specific process technology (for thermal energy transfer and condensate recovery) depends on the type of MD. Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) and vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) are two significant MD processes, with DCMD having the advantage of direct condensation and simple design, while VMD systems have high yield through sub-atmospheric vapor generation. This work focuses on developing an eductor-based MD process incorporating the strengths of both DCMD and VMD. It is an experimental study with a water jet eductor replacing the vacuum pump and condenser in a typical VMD system for active permeate vapor transfer and condensation. Unlike the exiting VMD systems, the proposed design recovers condensate by direct contact condensation. The sub-cooled water acts as a motive flow which entrains the secondary vapor into the stream, causing mass transfer via condensation at the interface. The modified VMD was found to have achieved better flux compared to the conventional VMD system. The performance of the eductor, sensitivity to parameters, and the practicality of the technology have been analyzed.
ISSN:2073-4441
2073-4441
DOI:10.3390/w14223624