Application of seawater desalination system with nanoporous membranes to permeate gap membrane distillation

Abstract

This study aims to fabricate a permeate gap membrane distillation with freshwater production and power extraction. The authors developed a thermal network model of heat and mass transport assuming steady-state one-dimensional heat conduction to estimate the temperature difference between the two sides of the membrane, which is the driving force of membrane distillation, and the permeate flux, which is an index of freshwater production. In this study, experiments using a permeate gap membrane distillation system were conducted to measure the permeate flux and temperatures on both sides of the membrane, and the results were evaluated with the thermal network model.