Multi-effect distillation brine treatment by membrane distillation: Effect of antiscalant and antifoaming agents on membrane performance and scaling control
Type
ArticleAuthors
Elcik, HarunFortunato, Luca

Alpatova, Alla
Soukane, Sofiane
Orfi, Jamel
Ali, Emad
AlAnsary, Hany
Leiknes, TorOve

Ghaffour, NorEddine

KAUST Department
Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center (WDRC)Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
Environmental Science and Engineering Program
KAUST Grant Number
REP/1/3805-01-01Date
2020-08-13Online Publication Date
2020-08-13Print Publication Date
2020-11Embargo End Date
2022-08-12Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/664574
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
One of the main advantages of the membrane distillation (MD) process is its ability to treat highly saline feed waters such as thermal desalination brines at moderate temperatures. However, scaling remains one of the major obstacles, causing a significant flux decline and membrane pore wetting. Furthermore, antiscalant and antifoaming agents are commonly utilized in conventional thermal desalination to prevent scale formation, and their effects on MD operation are not yet well understood. This study explores a multi-effect distillation (MED) brine as a potential feed source for MD system with respect to process performance and membrane scaling. The influence of chemicals present in MED brine as well as feed temperature on the scaling process is addressed in terms of vapor flux and salt crystals formation. The scale formation was monitored with the non-invasive optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging, and results were validated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Additionally, the elemental composition of the scale was determined and its effect on membrane contact angle was evaluated. We found that depending on its concentration, the antiscalant prolonged the induction time of salt crystallization whereas antifoaming showed the opposite effect. Scaling mostly occurred due to calcium sulfate crystals formation with the large size needle-shaped crystals favored at higher feed temperature. However, no pore wetting was observed including locations where crystal deposition occurred. Results show that thermal desalination brine, which is already preheated and chemically pretreated, could be an appropriate feed source for MD to further increase the overall water recovery and reduce the marine environmental impact by reducing the brine discharge volume and its temperature.Citation
Elcik, H., Fortunato, L., Alpatova, A., Soukane, S., Orfi, J., Ali, E., … Ghaffour, N. (2020). Multi-effect distillation brine treatment by membrane distillation: Effect of antiscalant and antifoaming agents on membrane performance and scaling control. Desalination, 493, 114653. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2020.114653Sponsors
The research reported in this paper was supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, through the KAUST-KSU (King Saud University) initiative, Grant # REP/1/3805-01-01 (KAUST) and RG-1440-103 (KSU). The authors acknowledge help, assistance and support from the Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC) and KAUST staff.Publisher
Elsevier BVJournal
Desalinationae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.desal.2020.114653