Experimental investigation of a solar-heated direct contact membrane distillation system using evacuated tube collectors
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Solar MD paper 8-April-20 Desalination journal.pdf
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Accepted manuscript
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Environmental Science and Engineering ProgramBiological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
Date
2020-05-12Online Publication Date
2020-05-12Print Publication Date
2020-08Embargo End Date
2022-05-12Submitted Date
2020-03-03Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/662860
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Show full item recordAbstract
Solar-powered membrane distillation (SP-MD) is examined as a promising renewable solution in the desalination and water treatment industry. In this study, an innovative direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) module to directly utilize solar thermal energy is proposed. While previous studies focused more on utilizing solar energy indirectly (i.e. to heat the feed water outside the MD module), the proposed system integrates hollow fiber membranes inside evacuated tube solar collectors in order to achieve a more compact system. The performance of the direct SP-MD module is measured first indoors in a bench-scale experiment, and then tested outdoors under sunlight. Results show that applying radiation directly can enhance the efficiency and permeate flux up to 17% compared to the same process when radiation is not applied under the same operating conditions. The daily operation of a stand-alone, directly heated SP-MD unit equipped with 0.035 m2 membrane area achieved a permeate flux of 2.2 to 6.5 kg·m−2·h−1 depending on solar intensity.Citation
Bamasag, A., Alqahtani, T., Sinha, S., Ghaffour, N., & Phelan, P. (2020). Experimental investigation of a solar-heated direct contact membrane distillation system using evacuated tube collectors. Desalination, 487, 114497. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2020.114497Sponsors
King Abdulazaiz University (KAU) is acknowledged for supporting A. Bamasag's study at Arizona State University (ASU), USA. The authors would like to thank Benjamin Obeng from ASU, who helped in the modules' manufacturing process.Publisher
Elsevier BVJournal
DesalinationAdditional Links
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0011916420304471ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.desal.2020.114497