Membrane Water Treatment Volume 11, Number 5, September 2020 , pages 353-361 DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/sem.2020.11.5.353 |
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Numerical study of desalination by Sweeping Gas Membrane Distillation |
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Nizar Loussif and Jamel Orfi
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Abstract | ||
The present study deals with a numerical investigation of heat and mass transfer in a Sweeping Gas Membrane Distillation (SGMD) used for desalination. The governing equations expressing the conservation of mass, momentum, energy and species with coupled boundary conditions were solved numerically. The slip boundary condition applied on the feed saline solution-hydrophobic membrane interface is taken into consideration showing its effects on profiles and process parameters.The numerical model was validated with available experimental data and was found to be in good agreement particularly when the slip condition is considered. The results of the simulations highlighted the effect of slip boundary condition on the velocity and temperature distributions as well as the process effectiveness. They showed in particular that as the slip length increases, the permeate flux of fresh water and process thermal efficiency rise. | ||
Key Words | ||
membrane distillation, desalination, heat and mass transfer, slip flow, SGMD | ||
Address | ||
Nizar Loussif: 1 École Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Monastir, Université de Monastir, Monastir, Tunisie 2 Département Génie des Procédés, Institut Supérieur des Etudes Technologiques Ksar Hellal, Tunisie Jamel Orfi: 3 Mechanical Engineering Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA 4 KA.CARE Energy Research and Innovation Center at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | ||