Publication detail

Fully Polymeric Distillation Unit Based on Polypropylene Hollow Fibers

KŮDELOVÁ, T. BARTULI, E. STRUNGA, A. HVOŽĎA, J. DOHNAL, M.

English title

Fully Polymeric Distillation Unit Based on Polypropylene Hollow Fibers

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

en

Original abstract

Access to pure water is a very topical issue today. Desalination represents a promising way of obtaining drinking water in areas of shortage. Currently, efforts are being made to replace the metal components of existing desalination units due to the high corrosivity of sea water. Another requirement is easy transportation and assembly. The presented solution combines two types of polymeric hollow fibers that are used to create the distillation unit. Porous polypropylene hollow fiber membranes have been used as an active surface for mass transfer in the distillation unit, while non-porous thermal polypropylene hollow fibers have been employed in the condenser. The large active area to volume ratio of the hollow fiber module improves the efficiency of both units. Hot water is pumped inside the membranes in the distillation unit. Evaporation is first observed at a temperature gradient of 10 °C. The water vapor flows through the tunnel to the condenser where cold water runs inside the fibers. The temperature gradient causes condensation of the vapor, and the condensate is collected. The article presents data for hot water at temperatures of 55, 60, and 65 °C. Optimization of the membrane module is evaluated and presented.

English abstract

Access to pure water is a very topical issue today. Desalination represents a promising way of obtaining drinking water in areas of shortage. Currently, efforts are being made to replace the metal components of existing desalination units due to the high corrosivity of sea water. Another requirement is easy transportation and assembly. The presented solution combines two types of polymeric hollow fibers that are used to create the distillation unit. Porous polypropylene hollow fiber membranes have been used as an active surface for mass transfer in the distillation unit, while non-porous thermal polypropylene hollow fibers have been employed in the condenser. The large active area to volume ratio of the hollow fiber module improves the efficiency of both units. Hot water is pumped inside the membranes in the distillation unit. Evaporation is first observed at a temperature gradient of 10 °C. The water vapor flows through the tunnel to the condenser where cold water runs inside the fibers. The temperature gradient causes condensation of the vapor, and the condensate is collected. The article presents data for hot water at temperatures of 55, 60, and 65 °C. Optimization of the membrane module is evaluated and presented.

Keywords in English

Polypropylene; hollow fiber membranes; heat transfer; sweep gas membrane distillation

Released

26.03.2021

Publisher

MDPI

ISSN

2073-4360

Volume

13

Number

7

Pages from–to

1031–1031

Pages count

18

BIBTEX


@article{BUT170955,
  author="Tereza {Kůdelová} and Erik {Bartuli} and Alan {Strunga} and Jiří {Hvožďa} and Miroslav {Dohnal},
  title="Fully Polymeric Distillation Unit Based on Polypropylene Hollow Fibers",
  year="2021",
  volume="13",
  number="7",
  month="March",
  pages="1031--1031",
  publisher="MDPI",
  issn="2073-4360"
}