Abstract
Membrane distillation (MD) is a separation process based on the vapor transport across the hydrophobic microporous membrane driven by the vapor pressure gradient across the membrane. This process can be used for various applications such as seawater desalination, wastewater treatment, separation of volatile compounds, concentration of non-volatile compounds and processing of dairy fluids. Comparing with other separation processes, the MD process possesses unique characteristics such as 100% (theoretical) rejection, mild operation conditions, insensitive to feed concentration and stable performance at high contaminant concentrations. Due to high oil prices in recent years, extensive research has been devoted to MD in the areas of membrane materials, module configurations, process applications and hybrid systems. This review aims to summarize the recent advances in MD and provide perspectives for its future R&D.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 39-56 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Journal of Membrane Science |
| Volume | 474 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 5 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research is supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister׳s Office, Singapore under its Competitive Research Program entitled “ Advanced FO Membranes and Membrane Systems for Wastewater Treatment, Water Reuse and Seawater Desalination ” (grant numbers: R-279-000-336-281 and R-279-000-339-281 ). Special thanks are due to Ms. Xin Tian Oon (National University of Singapore) for her valuable suggestions. Dr. Peng Wang also acknowledges the World Future Foundation (WFF) for awarding the Ph.D. Prize in Environmental and Sustainability Research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Keywords
- Hybrid processes
- MD application
- MD configuration
- Membrane development
- Membrane distillation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Materials Science(all)
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
- Filtration and Separation