The design of a unit sweeping gas membrane distillation: experimental study on a membrane and operating parameters

Abstract

The paper presents the focuses of application in membrane processes for the desalination of brackish water or salt water using the sweeping gas membrane distillation (SGMD); at first, it is the least used configuration of MD, and the design of this system is arduous and very expensive, and it is used to treat solutions containing non-volatile compounds, such us salts which is totally rejected, and high purity of water was recuperated. Vapor transfer is an important thermally induced phenomenon in the membrane-by-membrane (MD) evaporation and condensation. Our SGMD distillation system was simulated using MATLAB programmers on heat and mass transfer aspects. In our research, we found that heat and mass transfer in the SGMD is determined by the evaporation temperature of the gas and the sweep rate. The operational parameter (fluid velocity) is influenced across the layer on both sides of the membrane, because it is the source of the transfer of heat and mass in many membrane processes.