A study on membrane distillation by a solar thermal-driven system

Membrane distillation (MD) is a membrane separation process that has long been investigated in small scale laboratory studies and has the potential to become a viable tool for water desalination. MD is a separation process that combines simultaneous mass and heat transfer through a hydrophobic microporous membrane. A solar collector is used in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) to heat seawater as a temperature driving force in heat transfer to establish seawater desalting systems. The effect of the temperature difference makes the brine vaporize in the hot fluid side and condense in the cold fluid side. The optimal operating parameters on the pure water production rate will also be examined in this study. The purposes of this study are to develop the theoretical heat and mass transfer formulations, simulate heat transfer rate of solar collector with internal fins in membrane distillation, and investigate the mass‐transfer efficiency improvement in membrane distillation with the brine flow rate, solar collector efficiency, and temperature difference between both sides of membrane as parameters. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 36(7): 417–428, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/htj.20172