Novel spacer geometries for membrane distillation mixing enhancement

CV; Desalination; Heat transfer; MD; Mixing; Spacers; Energy supplies; Membrane distillation; Mixing enhancement; Permeate flux; Spacer; Spacer design; Spacer geometry; Chemistry (all); Chemical Engineering (all); Materials Science (all); Water Science and Technology; Mechanical Engineering

Abstract :

[en] Membrane distillation is an emerging promising desalination method that requires further improvement in order to become industrially viable. Due to the fact that evaporation is the primary process in membrane distillation, one strategy to boost membrane permeate flux is to optimize the energy supply to the water interface by increasing mixing in the hot channel via the use of optimized spacers. Contemporary spacer designs predominantly induce turbulence, resulting in elevated pumping energy requirements. This study introduces novel spacer geometries, inspired by industrial mixer designs, to surmount the limitations of conventional spacer configurations. The mixing efficiency, thermal performance, and pressure drop induced by the two novel geometries are studied and compared to those of commonly utilized spacer designs. It is confirmed, that the first of these novel geometries significantly enhances mixing, whereas the other causes a lower pressure drop and appears to be a viable solution when a spacer is a necessary structural component. In the course of the analysis, it is also shown that the coefficient of variation coupled with the Nusselt number at the membrane can be used to assess spacers' performance.

Disciplines :

Mechanical engineering

Author, co-author :

IBRAHIM, Alaa ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) > Department of Engineering (DoE)

DALLE, Marie-Alix ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine > Department of Engineering > Team Stephan LEYER

JANASZ, Filip ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) > Department of Engineering (DoE)

LEYER, Stephan ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) > Department of Engineering (DoE)

External co-authors :

Language :

English

Title :

Novel spacer geometries for membrane distillation mixing enhancement

Publication date :

July 2024

Journal title :

Desalination

ISSN :

0011-9164

eISSN :

1873-4464

Publisher :

Elsevier B.V.

Volume :

580

Pages :

117513

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0011916424002248?httpAccept=text/xml

Funders :

Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg

Funding text :

Alaa Adel Ibrahim reports financial support was provided by FNR - Luxembourg National Research Fund. The remaining authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Available on ORBilu :

since 03 July 2024

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