Journal of Membrane Science and Research 2 (2016) 207-213

Journal of Membrane Science & Research

journal homepage: www.msrjournal.com

Research Paper

Preliminary Evaluation for Vacuum Membrane Distillation (VMD) Energy Requirement

Zongli Xie1,*, Derrick Ng1, Manh Hoang1, Sharmiza Adnan1, Jianhua Zhang2, Mikel Duke2, Jun-De Li2, Andrew Groth3,
Chan Tun3, Stephen Gray2
1
CSIRO Manufacturing, Private bag 33, Clayton South MDC, Victoria 3169, Australia
2
Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, Victoria 8001, Australia
3
Memcor Products, Evoqua Water Technologies, 15 Blackman Crescent, South Windsor, New South Wales, 2756, Australia

ARTICLE INFO GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Received 2015-03-24
Revised 2015-05-29
Accepted 2015-06-08
Available online 2015-06-08

KEYWORDS
Membrane distillation
VMD
Energy

HIGHLIGHTS
• VMD energy required was modelled using experimental results and theoretical data.
• The trend between both data is generally consistent with each other.
• It is generally more energy efficient to run VMD in recirculation mode.
• Thermal energy contributes the most to the total energy required.
• To reduce operating cost, waste heat and heat recovery option should be considered.

ABSTRACT
The energy requirement of vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) with or without recirculation was modelled using both experimental results and theoretical data. The trends are
generally consistent between the theoretical and experimental data. Thermal energy contributes the most to the total energy required for the VMD process. To lower the thermal energy
cost, waste heat resource and heat recovery of latent heat from the permeate vapour are needed. The electrical energy consumption for VMD is slightly higher than brackish water
reverse osmosis (RO) but lower than sea water RO. It is generally more energy efficient to operate the VMD in recirculation mode than single pass mode. Process engineering modelling
results indicate that VMD may not be able to compete with RO directly but could be used as a complimentary process to RO, such as for brine concentrate treatment.
© 2016 MPRL. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
on the requirement at hand, the use of different energy sources and
Increasing population growth and global warming has created greater restrictions faced at the specific site. Karagiannis and Soldatos [2] conducted
disparities between the supplies and demands of fresh water sources. an extensive literature review on water desalination cost for different
Seawater and brackish water desalination technologies have been used to desalination technologies. Cost estimates seem to be very much site specific
overcome water scarcity issues by providing reliable fresh water [1]. Major and the water production cost ranges from installation to installation because
desalination technologies include Reverse Osmosis (RO), Electrodialysis the water cost depends upon many factors including the desalination method,
Reversal (EDR), Multi-stage Flash (MSF), Multiple Effect Distillation the level of feed water salinity, the energy source and the capacity of the
(MED) and Vapour Compression (VC). Each has its advantages and desalination plant. Thermal methods such as MSF and MED are generally
disadvantages and the choice of which technology to use is highly dependent adopted in Gulf countries and only financially viable in the larger scale

* Corresponding author at: Phone: +613 9545 2938; fax: +613 9544 1128
E-mail address: [email protected] (Z. Xie)

1
([email protected]; [email protected], [email protected])
2
([email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]) 207
3
([email protected]; [email protected])
208 Z. Xie et al. / Journal of Membrane Science and Research 2 (2016) 207-213

seawater desalination plants with high capital cost [2]. Their energy path length of the vapour phase in MD is approximately the membrane
consumption is generally high regardless of the level of salt concentration and thickness (~100 m), which is much shorter. It is potentially a commercial
it is therefore not a viable option for brackish water desalination [3]. VC is desalination technique if it can be combined with solar energy, geothermal
used mainly for small systems with production around 1000 m3/day [2]. When energy or waste heat available in power stations or chemical plants. However,
low cost thermal energy such as waste heat is available, these thermal if low cost thermal energy is not available or in low supply, as a thermal
processes could have operating cost advantages. For EDR, the major energy distillation process, MD is also an energy intensive technique. Hence, a
requirement is the direct current used to separate the ionic substances in the significant improvement of Gain Output Ratio (GOR) is required for effective
membranes stack and approximately 1 kWh electrical energy is required to production of fresh water. The economics of thermal processes with the trade-
extract 1 kg of salt [3]. Because the power consumption of EDR is directly off between thermal efficiency and plant capital cost is well described in [11].
proportional to the feedwater salinity, it is mostly suitable for brackish A high GOR is not always economically viable because of the added plant
feedwaters. In the last two decades, with advances in membrane materials and capital required to recycle heat. Careful thought should be put towards the
improvement in energy recovery, RO technology has improved considerably cost and abundance of the thermal energy in deciding the best MD
and more RO plants are being constructed throughout the world [3]. RO configuration and GOR.
accounts for >65% of total world desalination capacity and distillation Of the four major configurations developed for the MD process, vacuum
(mainly MSF) accounts for about 30% [4]. membrane distillation (VMD) is the least studied with only about 8% of
Membrane distillation (MD) is a membrane-based thermal separation published MD references that focused on VMD [12]. In VMD, the permeate
process [5, 6]. Although a membrane is involved in MD, the driving force is vapour does not condense in the module chamber, instead it is drawn out of
quite different from other membrane processes, being the vapour pressure the MD module by the vacuum and condenses in an external condenser. Heat
difference across the membrane which drives the mass transfer through a conduction through the membrane in VMD is negligible in general due to the
membrane, rather than an applied absolute pressure difference, a insulating nature of the vacuum on the permeate side. Thus, the thermal
concentration gradient or an electrical potential gradient. In MD, hydrophobic efficiency of the VMD is higher than direct contact MD.
membranes (pore size approximately in the range of 0.1-1 µm) [5, 7] are in In our previous studies [13,14], we developed a model to simulate hollow
direct contact with the aqueous feed solutions and are employed as a barrier fiber VMD performance. The theoretical predictions were assessed
between the feed and the product water. MD has 100% theoretical rejection of experimentally to gain an understanding of the effect of various operating
non-volatile components and can utilize low grade heat sources of 40-80 °C parameters, such as module length, feed velocity, feed temperature and
to achieve the vapour pressure difference. It is a well-known process for vacuum pressure, on VMD performance. This paper aims to extend our
concentrate treatment at low temperature, because MD is not significantly previous studies to evaluate the energy requirement of VMD with or without
affected by concentration polarization as are nanofiltration (NF) and RO [5]. recirculation using both theoretical results and experimental results obtained
Compared to RO, MD does not require a high pressure feed, can tolerate previously.
complete dry out of the membrane, and can process very high salinity brines.
Compared to other large thermal processes such as Multiple Stage Flash
(MSF), it is easily scalable [8]. In addition, MD can be conveniently 2. Experimental
integrated with conventional RO processes to increase the recovery ratio of
desalted water and/or improve the energy efficiency of the system [9], to 2.1. Process flow diagram
reduce the footprint of evaporation ponds or even substitute for the
evaporation ponds in processing RO concentrates. The possibility of using Two modes of operation for VMD were considered for process
plastic equipment also reduces or avoids corrosion problems. Therefore, MD engineering modelling: single pass and recirculation depending on whether
is a potential alternative for applications such as desalination utilizing low the reject stream from the membrane module is discharged (single pass) or
grade heat, concentration of thermally sensitive solutions and the treatment of recirculated back to the feed tank (recirculation). The schematic process flow
wastewater of high-salt concentrations [10]. diagram for VMD in either recirculation or single pass mode is shown in
In comparison to other thermal desalination technology (i.e. MSF), the Figure 1.

Fig. 1. Schematic of VMD in recirculation/single pass mode.

2.2. VMD testing and modelling flow rate of the feed stream was recorded by a flow meter and was controlled
by a flow control valve. The water vapour was condensed in a heat exchanger
A recirculating VMD configuration similar to Figure 1 was used in the using 3.6 ºC chilled water. Salt rejection was monitored by a conductivity
experimental study. The hollow fiber membranes with 40% packing density meter, and was greater than 99% in all experiments.
and module length of 0.5 m were used in this study. The detailed specification VMD performance modelling was developed based on the membrane
of the applied membrane and module configuration used has been described properties achieved through a gas permeation test [14]. In the VMD model,
in detail in our previous work [9]. The feed flowed through the lumen side of the sensible heat loss (<3% of latent heat) through the module wall was
the membrane. It was circulated by a pump and heated to the set temperature neglected.
by a heater before entering the lumen side of the hollow fiber. The permeate
was collected on the shell side of the module which was subjected to negative 2.3. Energy estimation
pressure controlled by a vacuum pump. Temperatures and pressures of feed
inlet, feed outlet and module shell (permeate side) were all monitored. The The energy estimation assessed on the major components for VMD are
 Z. Xie et al. / Journal of Membrane Science and Research 2 (2016) 207-213 209

(i) the feed heating, E1, (ii) the feed circulation, E2, (iii) the vacuum pump, E3, with the Re defined as:
and (iv) permeate cooling/condensation, E4 (see Figure 2). Feed heating (E1)
and permeate cooling/condensation energy (E4) were classified as the thermal vρ DH (9)
energy, whereas the electrical power associated with the feed pump (E2) and Re =
vacuum pump (E4) were classified as the electrical energy. Both single pass
and recirculation modes were included in this assessment.
where ρ is the fluid density, is the fluid viscosity, v is the fluid linear
velocity, Cp is the liquid heat capacity evaluated at bulk temperatures. The
Energy required Energy recovered (Er) hydraulic diameter is calculated from the geometry of the flow channel.
For turbulent flows (Re>2100), the pressure drop is also affected by the
Heating
roughness of the surface:
(E1,evaporation+E1, heating)

Feed circulation (E2) ε

VMD ∑ f = f(Re, ) + ∑ (ev ) (10)
Vacuum (E3)
D
Condensation

Cooler/Chiller (E4) where the first term on the right hand side refers to the friction loss due to the
material of the piping or tubing and can be estimated from the Moody
diagram based on the knowledge of the Reynolds number and the roughness
Fig. 2. Energy requirement and recovery for VMD.
of the pipe characterize by ɛ/D. For common materials such as PVC or
silicone a smooth surface can be assumed ( ɛ/D~0). The second term on the
The overall energy requirement is the summation of all contributions: right hand side of the equation (ev) represents the minor loss due to the
disturbances in the flow channel and common values for the minor loss
factors can be found in [17].
ETotal=E1+E2+E3+E4 (1)
In VMD, a vacuum pump is required to start the system and remove non-
If heat recovery is included in the process, it is carried out by capturing condensable gases from the module. At the steady state, the vacuum required
could generally be achieved by condensation of the permeate. This means that
the latent heat from the outlet permeate stream so Er can be subtracted from
ETotal (watt): the power required for the vacuum pump at steady state will be quite low as
the condenser will do most of the work for maintaining the vacuum as the
permeate is the water vapour which is condensable. Non-condensable vapour
ETotal=E1+E2+E3+E4-Er (2)
mainly includes air and carbon dioxide dissolved in the feed stream and air
The energy required to heat the feed (E1) contributes most to the overall leakage from the vacuum system. The required electrical energy (power
consumption) for the vacuum pump P2 (see Figure 1) can be estimated based
energy requirement in any MD configuration. There are two ways of
estimating E1; one is based on the operating conditions of the VMD (feed on the principles of adiabatic vapour expansion and contraction and related to
flow rate and inlet and outlet temperatures). For a single pass operation, the the flow rate of non-condensable gases at steady state by the following
equation[18]:
following equation is used:
m

(3)  (φ −1) φ

f

φ  p out 
γ
E1 = C pf (T fi − TRes ) m nc R T p (11)
E3 = − 1
MW ⋅ ε p 2 φ − 1  p p  
where ṁf is the mass flow rate of the feed (kg/s), Cpf is its heat capacity (J/kg  
K), TRes and Tfi are the temperatures of the feed reservoir and feed inlet (K),
respectively. When the feed stream is recirculated, a one-off heating (Einit) to where mnc is the mass flow rate of the non-condensable (kg/s), ɛp2 is the
increase the feed reservoir to the desired temperature from the initial vacuum pump efficiency, R is the universal gas constant (8.314 J/mol•K), Tp
temperature is required. Once the temperature of the reservoir reaches Tfi, a is the permeate side temperature, MW is the molecular weight of air, Pout is
makeup stream with an additional heat will need to be accounted for, the the vacuum pump exit pressure (normally atmospheric pressure), Pp is the
makeup stream will have the same mass flow rate with permeate flow rate mp, vacuum pump inlet pressure, and φ is the adiabatic expansion coefficient
and temperature TRes, hence creating the second term in equation 5. defined as:

E init (J) = m Res C pf (T fi − T Res ) (4) Cpp Cpp

φ (12)
= =
Cpv Cpp − R air
E1 = m f C pf (T fi − T fo ) + m p C pf (T fo − TRe s ) (5)
where Cpp is the heat capacity of air at constant pressure, Cpv is the heat
mRes is the mass flow rate of the feed from reservoir to the membrane capacity of air at constant volume, and Rair is the gas constant for air (0.287
module (kg/s), mp is the mass flow rate of the permeate flux (kg/s), Tfo is the kJ/kg•K).
temperature of the feed outlet (K). Apart from the energy required to condense water vapour, additional
The feed stream circulation to the membrane module is normally induced sensible heat needs to be removed to lower the temperature of water vapour.
by a feed pump, P1 [15]: The sensible heat released in the condenser is comprised of two parts:
desuperheating from Tpi to condensation temperature Tpc and subcooling from
Pf V f (6) condensation temperature to Tpo, thus the energy required to cool and
E2 = condense water vapour (E4) is calculated as:
ε p1
T pc T (13)
where Vf is the volumetric flow rate of feed, εp1 is the pump efficiency E4 = m p λ + m p ∫ C dT + m p ∫ po C p,l dT
T pi p, g T pc
whereas ∆P is the pressure drop due to friction determined by [16]:

2 where Tpi , Tpc and Tpo are the permeate inlet, condensation and outlet
L ν (7)
P = f ρ temperatures and Cp,g and Cp,l are the heat capacities of water vapour and
DH 2 liquid, respectively.

where f is the Darcy friction factor, L is the channel length, DH is the 2.4. Modelling basis
hydraulic diameter, ρ is the density, and v is the linear velocity of the feed or
cooling water stream. For a stream velocity in the laminar region (Re<2100), The required energy consumption by VMD was calculated using
the following correlation is applied: Equations 1 to 13. Theoretical and experimental results obtained in our
previous study [13, 14] have been used as the basis for this process modelling.
64 (8) For engineering modelling, the following assumptions have been made
f =
Re for estimating the energy consumptions:
210 Z. Xie et al. / Journal of Membrane Science and Research 2 (2016) 207-213

• Feed reservoir temperature: 20°C recycled feed stream to compensate for heat losses and maintaining the
• Reservoir size: 30 times the permeate desired feed inlet temperature during circulation. In single pass mode, only
production heating of the feed stream from the temperature of feed reservoir to the
• Pump efficiency: 80% desired feed inlet temperature is considered. In recirculation mode, initial
• Energy required for pretreatment is beyond heating of the feed stream is required to start up the system. At the steady
the boundary condition for this VMD state, the thermal heating mainly includes intermediate reheating to
process. compensate for heat losses and maintain the desired feed inlet temperature.
• Heat loss/exchange to/from surroundings and The electrical energy consists of electrical power required for the feed
between equipment is neglected recirculation pump and the vacuum pump.
Figures 3 and 4 show a typical breakdown of the energy components for
a VMD system under single pass and recirculation mode, respectively. In both
3. Results & Discussion cases, thermal energy is the most energy intensive component. In single pass
mode, the required thermal energy for feed heating and permeate
3.1. Breakdown of energy consumption cooling/condensation is 2307 kWh/m3 and 668 kWh/m3, respectively. The
heating supplied to the feed stream is much greater than the energy required
The energy required for the VMD process is divided into thermal and for permeate cooling/condensation, indicating a very low thermal efficiency
electrical energy. The thermal energy consists of two parts, namely the of the system as most of the heat in the feed stream will not be utilized to
heating component and the cooling component. The heating component can evaporate water through the membrane and is lost with the reject stream in
be further broken down into the initial heating for raising the reservoir single pass mode.
temperature to the desired temperature, and intermediate reheating of the

3000 3

Thermal Energy Electrical energy

Electrical energy requirement (kWh/m 3)

2500 2.5
Thermal energy requirement (kWh /m 3)

2307

2000 2

1.5
1500 1.5

1000 1
668

500 0.5

0.027
0 0
Heating Cooling +Condensation Feed recirculation Vacuum pump
Energy component

Fig. 3. Breakdown of energy components for a single pass system (feed temperature 60°C, permeate pressure 3.0 kPa, linear
feed velocity 0.28 m/s and water flux 20.0 kg/m2.h).

2000 3

1800
Thermal energy requirement (kWh/m3)

Thermal Energy Electrical energy

Electrical energy requirement (kWh/m3)

2.5
1600
1393
1400
2
1200
1.5
1000 1.5

800 729
668
1
600

400
0.5
200
0.027
0 0
Initial heating Heating Cooling +Condensation Feed recirculation Vacuum pump
Energy component

Fig. 4. Breakdown of energy components for a recirculated system (feed temperature 60°C, permeate pressure 3.0 kPa, linear feed velocity 0.28
m/s and water flux 20.0 kg/m2.h).

3.2. Effect of operating conditions on energy consumption

For a similar system in recirculation mode, a one off initial heating
energy of 1393 kWh/m3 is required to heat up the reservoir from room 3.2.1. Effect of feed temperature
temperature to the desired feed temperature of 60 °C. It is worth mentioning
that this initial heating energy depends heavily on the size and initial Figure 5 shows the effect of feed inlet temperature on thermal energy
temperature of the reservoir. The higher initial temperature of the reservoir, required in recirculation mode by using both theoretical data and
the lower the initial heating energy; the larger the reservoir size, the higher experimental results. Generally, total thermal energy displays a linear
the initial heating. At steady state, only 729 kWh/m3 is required to maintain a increment with feed temperature. This was mainly due to increased initial
stable feed temperature. heating at higher feed temperatures. At lower temperatures (<50°C), the
Changing the operation mode has no effect on the electrical energy experimental results fit quite well with the theoretical data. However, at
component as the vacuum pump power consumption is only related to the higher temperatures (50-75 °C), experimental results show a much higher
pump inlet pressure controlled by the cooling temperature at a given thermal energy demand. This is understandable, because as feed temperature
production capacity whilst the circulation pump power consumption is only is increased, extra heat is required to account for heat loss to the surroundings
affected by the change of feed flow rate and/or pressure drop. In both cases, as opposed to the theoretical model where negligible heat loss was assumed.
the power consumption for the vacuum pump is significantly higher (1.5 Intermediate heating is relatively constant using theoretical data but increases
kWh/m3) than that of feed circulation pump (0.027 kWh/m3). more prominently with feed temperature experimentally. This discrepancy is
due to the negligible heat loss assumed in the theoretical model. On the other
 Z. Xie et al. / Journal of Membrane Science and Research 2 (2016) 207-213 211

hand, in experimental conditions, the heat loss became more severe when results fit well with the theoretical data and have similar magnitude.
operating VMD at higher feed temperature as a result of a larger temperature Figure 8 shows the effect of changing feed velocity on required electrical
difference between the feed and the surrounding environment. energy in recirculation mode. Changing the feed velocity has no impact on
electrical power required for the vacuum pump but significantly affects that
5000 required for the feed recirculation pump. This is because the pressure drop in
Experimental: Total thermal energy
the module and along the connecting pipes becomes higher as the feed
Theoretical: Total thermal energy
velocity increases. As a result, a higher work load for the recirculation pump
Thermal energy (kWh/m3 )

4000 Experimental: Intermediate heat

Theoretical: Intermediate heat
and consequently, higher electrical power consumption is required (Equation
6). In this scenario, increasing feed velocity to higher than 1.7 m/s has
3000 resulted in a sharper increase of recirculation pump energy as the pressure
drop is related to the square of the feed velocity (Equation 7) and increased
more significantly. In addition, previous studies have found that the feed
2000 velocity only has a small influence on flux [14]. Hence, running the
membrane module at higher feed velocity is not recommended as it is not
1000
beneficial to either the flux or the electrical energy requirement.

5000
Experimental: Total thermal energy
0 Theoretical: Total thermal energy
25 35 45 55 65 75 85 Experimental: Intermediate heat
4000

Thermal energy (kWh/m3)

Feed temperature (oC)
Theoretical: Intermediate heat

Fig. 5. Thermal energy requirement at various feed temperatures (theoretical: linear feed
velocity= 0.28 m/s, permeate pressure= 3.0 kPa; experimental: linear feed velocity=0.81-0.94 3000
m/s, permeate pressure= 2.2-4.0 kPa).

2000
Figure 6 shows the effect of feed inlet temperature on electrical energy
required by using both the theoretical data and experimental results. Both data
show a downward electrical energy trend with increasing feed inlet 1000
temperature. However, the theoretical model shows a lower electrical energy
requirement and also lower and steady decrement compared to the
0
experimental model which shows a larger decrease. These discrepancies are
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
mainly due to the differences in vacuum pressure used between the models;
3.0 kPa in the theoretical model whereas it is 2.2-4.0 kPa in the experimental Feed velocity (m/s)
model. The constant vacuum pressure used in the theoretical model gives a
Fig. 7. Thermal energy requirement at various feed velocities (theoretical: feed
relative steady trend. When the feed temperature is increased, both the temperature= 60°C, permeate pressure= 2.0 kPa; experimental: feed temperature=60-62°C,
solubility of non-condensable gases was dissolved and the viscosity in the permeate pressure= 2.7-3.6 kPa).
feed stream decreased, and consequently reduced the power required by the
vacuum pump and recirculation pump, respectively. As a result, there is a
slight reduction in total electrical energy required as inlet temperature is 3.6
increased. Vacuum pump
3.0 Recirculation pump 2.678
Electrical energy (kWh/m3)

3.00
2.4
1.850
Experimental
1.8
2.50 Theoretical 1.178
1.2
Electrical energy (kWh/m3)

0.6 0.304
2.00 0.099

0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

1.50 Feed velocity (m/s)

Fig. 8. Breakdown of electrical energy requirement at various feed velocities

(feed temperature= 60°C, permeate pressure= 2.0 kPa).
1.00
25 35 45 55 65 75 85 4000 4.0

3500 3.5
Feed temperature (oC)
Thermal energy (kWh/m3)

Electric energy (kWh/m3)

3000 3.0
Fig. 6. Electrical energy requirement at various feed temperatures (theoretical: linear 2500 2.5
feed velocity= 0.28 m/s, permeate pressure= 3.0 kPa; experimental: linear feed
velocity=0.81-0.94 m/s, permeate pressure= 2.2-4.0 kPa). 2000 2.0

1500 1.5
3.2.2. Effect of feed velocity 1000 1.0
Thermal energy
500 0.5
Figure 7 shows the effect of changing feed velocity on intermediate Electric energy

heating and total thermal energy required for both theoretical data and 0 0.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
experimental results. In general, results using theoretical data show a Permeate Pressure (kPa)
relatively constant thermal energy requirement with increasing feed velocity
whereas experimental results show an increasing trend in thermal energy with Fig. 9. Thermal and electrical energy requirement at various permeate pressures (feed
feed velocity. The total thermal energy requirements using experimental temperature= 60°C, linear feed velocity=0.28 m/s).
results are higher than those using theoretical data. This could be due to the
heat loss to the membrane module and surroundings with increasing feed 3.2.3. Effect of permeate pressure change
velocity as a result of higher average temperature in the module. On the other
hand, the heat loss to the surrounding is neglected in the theoretical model. In Figure 9 shows the trend of thermal and electrical energies with the
addition, the efficiency of the heating device is anticipated to be lower for permeate pressure in recirculation mode. The thermal energies (including
small scale laboratory systems. Therefore, higher thermal energy requirement initial heating, intermediate reheating and permeate cooling/condensation)
is expected using experimental results. For intermediate heating, experimental remain unchanged and the electrical energy increases with decreasing
212 Z. Xie et al. / Journal of Membrane Science and Research 2 (2016) 207-213

permeate pressure. At a fixed production capacity, thermal energy is only operating costs, and sometimes the benefits in the increment of the flux will
related to the feed inlet and permeate temperatures which are normally not offset its additional expense. Therefore, measures have been sought
constant. Therefore, the required thermal energy remains constant. On the constantly to increase the economic value of the process. The latent heat from
other hand, more work needs to be done by the vacuum pump to attain the the condensation of the permeate stream represents potential heat energy that
desired vacuum pressure as the power consumption of the vacuum pump is could be recovered in the process. Options to the lower cost of the thermal
directly related to the vacuum pump inlet pressure (Equation 11). Although it energy required for VMD include 1) using a free waste heat or low grade heat
is advantageous to operate the vacuum pump at higher permeate pressure (i.e. source that is readily available in most of the medium to big scale power
low vacuum) to reduce the energy required, it is worth mentioning that an plants, 2) recovering the latent heat of condensation gained in the permeate
optimum permeate pressure needs to be chosen as the water flux decreases condenser.
significantly at higher permeate pressure due to the lower driving force across Figure 10 compares the effective thermal energy required for a VMD
the membrane. process coming from a direct electrical power source at different feed
temperatures with the option of using free waste heat and/or recovering 90%
3.3. Heat recovery and waste heat option of latent heat. It is obvious that the effective thermal energy from the direct
heating source can be reduced by 5 and 30-fold when running the process
Thermal energy is one of the driving forces for permeation of vapour with the options of i) free waste heat but no heat recovery and ii) free waste
through the membrane; and a higher flux can usually be attained when more heat and 90% latent heat recovery, respectively at the feed temperature of 70
thermal energy is introduced to the feed stream. Generally, better thermal °C. It has been reported that the average energy consumption was 2.2-3.0
efficiency can be achieved at higher temperatures. However, running kWh/m3 for sea water RO, 0.7-1 kWh/m3 for brackish water RO and 1.2
membrane distillation processes at higher temperature also means higher kWh/m3 for industrial effluents [19].

4000 4.00
No waste heat + No heat recovery
Waste heat + No heat recovery
3500 Waste heat + 90% Heat recovery
3176 3.50
Total electrical energy

Total electrical energy (kWh/m3)

3000 2805
Total thermal energy (kWh/m3)

3.00
2433
2500

2062
2000 2.50

1500 1337
2.00

1000

1.50
500

0 1.00
30 40 50 60 70

Feed temperature (°C)

Fig. 10. Effective thermal and electrical energy requirement with/without heat recovery and alternative heat source (feed velocity 0.28
m/s, permeate pressure 3.0 kPa).

Based on our process engineering modelling result, the electrical energy temperature, low permeate pressure and a turbulent fluid regime will achieve
consumption for VMD is slightly higher than brackish water RO but lower high water fluxes even for a very high salt concentration with high water
than that for SWRO. This is while VMD requires additional thermal energy as recovery at reasonable energy consumption. Coupling VMD to waste heat or
opposed to SWRO, which requires no thermal energy to operate. It is also renewable energy such as solar energy will make this process more energy
worth mentioning that when compared with RO and other conventional efficient and economically viable.
thermal desalination processes (MED, MVC, MSF), none of them can be used In addition, VMD has some significant advantages over other processes
for a near saturation point like in MD process. Combining these together, and heat and mass transfer across the membrane is the basic mass
these results indicate that VMD may not be able to compete with RO directly, transportation and energy transformation process. Since the VMD process can
but could be used as a complimentary technology for RO such as brine concentrate and separate high concentration saline solution in a way similar to
concentrate treatment. Because of the limitation from osmotic pressure, a high the desorption or regeneration process in the absorption refrigeration system
water recovery is not attainable in RO processes. Consequently, large and the concentrated solution can also act as an energy storage mode due to
volumes of brines are discharged into the sea and the flow rate produced the transformation of heat energy into solution chemical energy [21], it could
(permeate) is limited. In this regard, VMD could be used as a complementary also be potentially applied to both the refrigeration system and solution
process to RO to further concentrate RO brines and increase the overall water chemical storage system involving energy transformation processes.
recovery of the process. This will significantly reduce the area required for
evaporation ponds which are generally used for brine management for inland
areas. 4. Conclusions
Similar findings have been previously reported. Sirkar and Song [20]
built and operated a pilot DCMD plant successfully in Connecticut, US for a The energy requirement of VMD with or without recirculation was
period of 3 months. The effective membrane surface area was up to 6.6 m2 evaluated using both experimental results and theoretical data obtained in our
which yielded a 3.8 LPM permeate production rate. A detailed cost previous studies. Most of the trends are consistent between theory and
calculation was conducted for the production of 3.8 MLPD of permeate. They experimental data. It is generally more energy efficient to operate the VMD in
found that the cost of water by the DCMD process is competitive with RO if recirculation mode than single pass mode. Single pass mode operation will
hot brine is available from existing low grade heat sources. If the cost of the only have an advantage at low feed temperatures where the initial heating is
concentrated brine disposal is taken into account for inland desalination not required and a waste heat source is not available.
applications, the economics of MD-based desalination will be even better. In both single pass and recirculation mode, thermal energy requirement is
Their findings confirmed our conclusion that running VMD could be an significant and contributes the most to the total energy required for VMD
economical and viable option when free or low grade waste heat sources are which makes the VMD an energy intensive process. To lower the cost
readily available for the feed stream. accrued from thermal energy requirement, a free low grade waste heat
Operating conditions such as a highly permeable membrane, high feed resource and heat recovery of latent heat from the permeate vapour are
 Z. Xie et al. / Journal of Membrane Science and Research 2 (2016) 207-213 213

needed. The latent heat of condensation of the permeate stream indicates that [7] E. Curcio, E. Drioli, Membrane Distillation and Related Operations: A Review, Sep.
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Excellence for Desalination Australia which is funded by the Australian [17] B.F. Bird, Stewart, E. adn Lightfoot, E.N., Transport Phenomena, 2nd ed., John
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