Membrane distillation

Abstract

The paper presents a separation process based on evaporation through the pores of a hydrophobic membrane known as membrane distillation (MD). Different process configurations were considered. Preparation of membranes for the MD, their properties, transport phenomena, modules design have been discussed. Application of MD to preparation of pure, desalted water was presented. The MD process was also applied to the concentration of different acids. The process can be used in a food industry. The concentration of sulfuric acid solution obtained after extraction of apatite phosphogypsum by MD in order to recover lantane compounds was presented. The other direction of MD application was concentration and recovery of HCl from metal pickling solutions.