Experimental parametric study of membrane distillation unit using solar energy

Solar distillation is a promising method for the supply of freshwater to rural communities because water is a vital factor for the survival of humans. Therefore potable water demand is increasing continuously because of the industrial, population and, fast agricultural applications. Nowadays, different techniques for water purification have been created to provide freshwater from salty and polluted water such as solar distillation method to distill brackish/saline water. This work presents an experimental study of the solar membrane distillation unit which is coupled with direct contact membrane (DCMD) which located at Kairouan University. The system is installed as part of a cooperation project research and development between Tunisian Electromechanical Systems Laboratory and German Institute for Solar Energy Systems entitled: Solar driven membrane distillation for resource efficient desalination in remote areas. For the heating of the hot feed water stream, a heat exchanger is included which can be operated with any external heat supply between 60 and 80 °C. For the cooling of the cold feed water stream, no heat exchanger is included. The cooling can be provided over the intake of cold feed water. The effect of solar irradiation and all temperature on the journal productivity of the unit has been presented

Autonomous solar powered membrane distillation systems: State of the art

Being a basic element for the every existence of any form of life on earth, water is one of the most abundant resources on earth, covering three-fourth of the planet’s surface. However, there is a shortage of freshwater in many areas worldwide. Desalination seems to be the most suitable solution. Major conventional desalination processes, such as distillation and reverse osmosis, consume a large amount of energy derived from oil and natural gas as heat and electricity, which is responsible for harmful CO2 emission. Solar desalination has emerged as a promising renewable energy-powered technology for producing freshwater. Solar membrane distillation (MD) is the best option in decentralized regions with scattered population and lack of infrastructures jointly with hard climate conditions make it difficult or at least not cost-effective to scale down bigger desalination technologies, such as RO or MSF, designed for very big water productions. Moreover, MD compared to conventional thermal desalination is less demanding regarding vapor space and building material’s quality leading to potential lower construction costs. The aim of this paper is to present the state-of-the-art review of developments in solar MD technology. In this review, membrane configurations, module design, and recent applications of this technology were discussed in detail