Optimization of membrane distillation (MD) technology for specific application desalination

The major desalination problem in remote rural areas is the management and disposal of the brine. Today, conventional desalination technologies known are detent multistage or multistage flash (MSF), the vapor compression (VC), distillation multiple effects (MED), and reverse osmosis. Technology desalination of seawater in the presence of a membrane distillation unit driven by solar energy is a possible solution to reduce the energy costs of producing distilled water. The developed model is used to simulate the membrane distillation unit coupled with solar collector system in order to investigate the steady-state behavior of each component of the unit and the entire system exposed to a variation of the entrance parameters and meteorological conditions. The results obtained show the influence of external and internal parameters on the operating characteristics of the membrane distillation unit coupled with solar collector system. A global mathematical model based on heat and mass transfers is developed to investigate both the effect of different operating modes and the variation of functioning parameters and weather conditions on the freshwater production.