Publication detail

Fully polymeric distillation unit based on polypropylene hollow fiber membranes: thermal performance analysis

HVOŽĎA, J. STRUNGA, A. KŮDELOVÁ, T.

English title

Fully polymeric distillation unit based on polypropylene hollow fiber membranes: thermal performance analysis

Type

conference paper

Language

en

Original abstract

Water scarcity is one of the current threats for many people around the globe. Desalination processes are a crucial solution for areas with access to sea water on the one hand and with the inadequacy of fresh water on the other. Used technology, membrane distillation, is a thermally driven separation process using a porous membrane to set liquid and gas phases apart. Water evaporates and its vapour crosses the membrane’s pores. Polypropylene membrane modules and chaotic hollow fiber condenser were used to construct a (fully polymeric) sweep gas membrane distillation unit. Data of four membrane modules were measured to evaluate the unit thermal performance. Limitations lay in 1) the fiber (geometrical) separation of membrane modules, 2) proper utilization of the sweep gas velocity, and 3) improving condensation system. Still, the device shows a significant thermal efficiency (> 60 %) even at low operating temperatures. Moreover, further improvements are concrete and reachable.

English abstract

Water scarcity is one of the current threats for many people around the globe. Desalination processes are a crucial solution for areas with access to sea water on the one hand and with the inadequacy of fresh water on the other. Used technology, membrane distillation, is a thermally driven separation process using a porous membrane to set liquid and gas phases apart. Water evaporates and its vapour crosses the membrane’s pores. Polypropylene membrane modules and chaotic hollow fiber condenser were used to construct a (fully polymeric) sweep gas membrane distillation unit. Data of four membrane modules were measured to evaluate the unit thermal performance. Limitations lay in 1) the fiber (geometrical) separation of membrane modules, 2) proper utilization of the sweep gas velocity, and 3) improving condensation system. Still, the device shows a significant thermal efficiency (> 60 %) even at low operating temperatures. Moreover, further improvements are concrete and reachable.

Keywords in English

Desalination, Heat transfer, Hollow fiber membranes, Sweep gas membrane distillation.

Released

09.05.2022

Location

Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences

ISBN

978-80-86246-48-2

Book

ENGINEERING MECHANICS 2022

Edition number

1

Pages from–to

161–164

Pages count

4

BIBTEX


@inproceedings{BUT177885,
  author="Jiří {Hvožďa} and Alan {Strunga} and Tereza {Kůdelová},
  title="Fully polymeric distillation unit based on polypropylene hollow fiber membranes: thermal performance analysis",
  booktitle="ENGINEERING MECHANICS 2022",
  year="2022",
  month="May",
  pages="161--164",
  address="Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences",
  isbn="978-80-86246-48-2"
}