Ceramics (Jan 2024)

A CFD Analysis of the Desalination Performance of Ceramic-Based Hollow Fiber Membranes in Direct Contact Membrane Distillation

  • MHD Maher Alrefaai,
  • Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman,
  • Mohammad Rava,
  • Zhong Sheng Tai,
  • Abolfazl Asnaghi,
  • Mohd Hafiz Puteh,
  • Juhana Jaafar,
  • Mukhlis A. Rahman,
  • Mohammed Faleh Abd Al-Ogaili

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ceramics7010009
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 115 – 136

Abstract

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In this numerical study, the performance of ceramic-based mullite hollow fiber (HF) membranes in a direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process was evaluated. Three types of membranes were tested: (i) hydrophobic membrane C8-HFM, (ii) rod-like omniphobic membrane (C8-RL/TiO2), and (iii) flower-like omniphobic membrane (C8-FL/TiO2). The CFD model was developed and validated with experimental results, which were performed over a 500 min period. The initial mass flux of C8-HFM was 30% and 9% higher than that of C8-FL/TiO2 and C8-RL/TiO2, respectively. However, the flower-like omniphobic membrane C8-FL/TiO2 had the lowest drop in flux, around 11%, while the rod-like omniphobic membrane C8-RL/TiO2 had a 15% reduction, both better than the 23% reduction in the hydrophobic membrane C8-HFM over the 500 min. The study also analyzed the impact of fouling by examining the variation in mass transfer coefficient (MTC) over time. The results indicated that the ceramic-based mullite HF membranes with TiO2 flowers and rods demonstrated a high resistance to fouling compared to C8-HFM. The modified membranes could find applications in the desalination and handling of seawater samples containing organic contaminants. The CFD model’s versatility can be utilized beyond the current investigation’s scope, offering a valuable tool for efficient membrane development solutions, particularly for challenges such as the presence of organic contaminants in seawater.

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