Induction-Surface-Heating Membrane Distillation
Alexandria University
Project Goal
• In traditional MD processes, most of the heat in hot brine may not
fully be used toward the promotion of water vapor transfer across the
membrane due to limited water- membrane surface contact and mass
transport limitations.
• Electromagnetic induction energy effectively and uniformly
penetrates membrane modules and induce localized heating of the
membrane-water interface.
• This project aims to develop a novel membrane distillation
technology with goals of enhancing water vapor transfer, increasing
freshwater production, reducing heat loss and saving energy.
• This project will further investigate (1) the heating performances of
different catalyst-coated membranes at different blending ratios of
ferromagnetic nanoparticles; (2) impacts of solution characteristics,
flow rate of brine solution, induction intensity and membrane
properties on the performances of MD. The project findings will enable
us to gain important scientific insight into the development of cost-
efficient and sustainable MD processes for desalination and water
purification.
Supporting People, Planet & Prosperity
• This project will embody the P3 approaches such as producing
high-quality water using low-grade or waste heat and brines
(possible wastewater), which ease the burden of natural
freshwater resources.
• In addition, no special high-pressure pumps are required and
thus reduce the operational complexity of theprocess
•.As shows below, this technology, if implemented in real life, can
be added to the existing tubular membrane module with
induction coils to produce alternative induction fields to heat
functionalized membranes to separate brine from distilled water.
Clearly, this induction MD will be simple to construct and
compatible with existing MD membrane filtration systems, which
is therefore non-disrupting and safe to operate.
Results and Developments
• Preparation of catalyst-coated/blended membranes and characterization
• A composite Fe3O4/PANI@PTFE membrane was
prepared by spraying coating a layer of Fe3O4/PANI
nanocomposite commercial PTFE porous membrane.
• Assessment of the proposed MD performance and optimization
• Higher Fe304 loading of 16.3 g-m-2 in the membrane
render better static heating performance (reaching the
stabilized temperature of 110 °C at a heating rate of ~7.3
°C s-1)
• The membrane displayed stable permeate fluxes and
produced high quality water with salt rejection higher
than 99%. The water flux decreased from 5.0 to 1.6
L·m¯².h¯¹ when increasing the flow velocity from 1.4 to
8.6 cm.min¯¹.
• Higher coolant flow velocity produced improved
permeate flux.
• The permeate flux was increased efficiently first, but
maintained similar level when further increasing the
induction power supply from 2.74 to 3.65 kW.
Summary of Anticipated Outcomes
• This project aims to develop a novel membrane distillation
technology with goals of enhancing water vapor transfer,
increasing freshwater production, reducing heat loss and
saving energy.
• The specific scientific merit from this project include: (1)
identifying functional materials or catalysts that efficiently
adsorb electromagnetic induction energy and turn into
localized surface heating. (2) providing optimized fabrication
methods for catalyst- coated membranes with tunable
structures (3) demonstrating high-efficiency MD process under
optimized design of catalyst loading on PVDF membrane.
• The research outcomes will not only tackle the challenges in
the energy saving and heat loss during membrane
desalination, but also pave the way toward high efficiency
water production to help solve the water crisis.
Anticipated Conclusions
Magnetic responsive nanoparticles with high
induction heating efficiency will be synthesized
• Interfacial heating / separation dual functional MD
membranes will be fabricated which provide not
only high induction heating efficiency, but also water
purification ability
• High thermal efficiency by DCMD desalination
process will be achieved the induction-assisted
DCMD technology
Acknowledgements
• We thank the financial support from United States
Environmental Protection Agency under Grant number
SU84014901 .