MEMBRANE DISTILLATION AND OSMOTIC

DISTILLATION

MEMBRANE OSMOTIC
DISTILLATION DISTILLATION

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MEMBRANE DISTILLATION
Introduction
Most membrane transport processes are isothermal processes with either concentration pressure or
electrical potential difference as the driving force.In this case we have a thermal process.
Feed Membrane Permeate
side side dT
J h   (1)
dx
To
J h : heat flux
TL
 : thermal conductivity
dT
: temperature diference
x=0 x=L dx

Figure 1. Temperature profile across a

homogeneous membrane
When a membrane separates two phases held at different temperatures, heat will flow from the high-
temperature side to the low-temperature side. This transport of heat can be described by Fourier’s
equation, where the heat flow is related to the corresponding driving force, the temperature difference.
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MEMBRANE DISTILLATION
Definition
Isa process in which two liquid or solutions at different temperatures are separated by a porous
membrane.

The liquid or solution must no wet the membrane otherwise the pores will be filled for capillary
force. This implies that non-wettable porous hydrophobic membranes must be used in the case of
aqueous solutions.

The material in this case is not wetted by the liquid feed and thus liquid penetration and transport
across the membrane is prevented.

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MEMBRANE DISTILLATION
Schematic representation Such transport occur in a sequence of three
steps:
-Evaporation on the high-temperature side.
Air/vapour
-Transport
of vapour molecules through the
Feed Permeate pores of the hydrophobic porous
membrane.
H2O H2O
-Condensation on the low-temperature side.
T1 T2

Membrane distillation is one of the

Hydrophobic membrane processes in which the membrane
Liquid water porous membrane Liquid water is not directly involved in separation. The
only function of the membrane is to act as a
T1>T2 barrier between the twos phases. Selectivity is
completely determined by the vapour liquid
Figure 2. Schematic representation membrane distillation equilibrium involves. This means that the
(M. Mulder, 1997.Basic Principles of Membrane Technology) component with the highest partial pressure
will show the highest permeation rate.

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MEMBRANE DISTILLATION
Schematic representation

2 6

1
5

Fractionation by membrane distillation, 1, porous hydrophobic membrane polymer; 2, feed;

3, vapour space; 4, cooling water; 5, chilled wall; 6, condensed droplets.
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(K.Scott & R. Hughes, 1996.Industrial Membrane Separation Technology)
OTHER TECHNIQUES

MEMBRANE DISTILLATION
Process parameters


 

Contact angles of liquid droplets on a solid (nonporous) material.

The main requirement is that the membrane must no be wetted. If wetting occurs, the liquid
will penetrate spontaneously into the pores of the membrane.
The wettability is determined by the interaction between the liquid and the polymeric
material, with no wetting occurring at low affinity. Information about wettability can be
obtained by contact angle measurements, i.e. a drop of liquid is placed upon a nonporous flat
surface and the contact angle is measured.
For low affinity the contact angle  will have values > 90º.
If the material is porous, the liquid will penetrate into the pores wetting occur ( < 90º).
This can be described by the Laplace equation:

2
P   cos  (2)
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r
MEMBRANE DISTILLATION
Membrane materials
The membrane hydrophobic materials typical are:

Polypropylene

PTFE (polytetrafluroethylene)

PVDF (polyvinylidenedifluoride)

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MEMBRANE DISTILLATION
Some applications
The applications are determined by the wettability of the membrane, which implies that mainly
aqueous solutions containing inorganic solutes can be treated. The surface tension of these solution
differs little from that of water.

The production of pure water :

Laboratories
Semiconductor industry
Desalination of the seawater
Concentration of aqueous solutions

Removal of Volatiles organic compounds (VOC´s)

Contaminated surface water (benzene)
Fermentation products and volatile bioproducts (ethanol, butanol, acetone or aroma
compounds).
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MEMBRANE DISTILLATION

Advantage & drawback

Advantage
The major advantage of membrane distillation is that, with compact modules equipped with hollow
fibres, a high surface area per unit liquid volume for mass transport is accessible and thus high overall
permeation rates are attainable.

Drawback

The greater practical limitation in membrane distillation applications is the required pressure
upstream of the membrane.

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OSMOTIC DISTILLATION

Introduction

Similar to membrane distillation.



Both phases at the same temperature.



The partial pressure gradient due to the osmotic pressure is the driving force.


The osmotic pressure is risen by adding appropriate compounds to the receiving phase.


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OSMOTIC DISTILLATION
Transport mechanism
Osmotic distillation is a separation process in which a liquid mixture containing a volatile
component is contacted with microporous, non-liquid-wettable membrane whose opposite surface is
exposed to a second liquid phase capable of absorbing that component.

Feed Channel

Dilute Feed In Concentrated

Feed Out
Semipermeable Membrane

Diluted Brine Concentrated

Out Brine In

Brine Channel

In osmotic distillation, a semipermeable membrane acts as a vapor gap that allows

migration of volatiles in a single direction.
Chemical Engineering Progress, 1998
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OSMOTIC DISTILLATION
Some applications
This technique to play an important role in the processing of foods, pharmaceutical and biological
products.

Examples:
Fruit juice enrichment.
Alcohol removal from wine and beer.

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OSMOTIC DISTILLATION

Transport mechanism (solute concentration)

The driving potential for such
Increasing Water Vapor pressure transport is the difference in vapor
pressure of each component over each
Diluted of the contacting liquid phases.
Brine Out
Concentrated If the sole or primary volatile
Brine In
component in solution is the solvent,
Membrane
then evaporation of solvent from the
solution of higher vapor pressure into
that of lower vapor pressure will result
in concentration of the former and
dilution of the latter.
Dilute
Feed In Concentrated Feed If the solvent vapor pressure over the
Out
liquid being concentrated drops to a
Decreasing Water Vapor pressure
value equal to that over receiving
phase, no further transport will occur.
Figure 6. Mechanism of osmotic distillation through a
microporous hydrophobic membrane

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OSMOTIC DISTILLATION

Transport Mechanism (Alcohol removal ) In this case, the solute of interest is

evaporated from the feed at the
Increasing alcohol partial pressure membrane surface, transported by
vapor diffusion through the membrane
Dilute Alcohol pores, and condensed into a strip liquid
Solution Out on the opposite face of the membrane.
Water In
Most commonly, the stripping liquid is
pure water or an aqueous solution
Membrane Water containing a lesser concentration of the
solute being transferred.
Alcohol

Wine In
Dealcoholized Wine
Out
Decreasing alcohol partial pressure

Figure 8. Mechanism of selective alcohol removal by evaporative pertraction

Chemical Engineering Progress, 1998

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OSMOTIC DISTILLATION
Process design
The objective of an OD process for concentration of an aqueous feed is to remove water from the feed via
transfer of a large fraction of the water into a saline strip solution, yielding a product of the desired solute
concentration and diluted strip. The essential design parameters are:

(1) The required plan capacity in daily volume of feed to be concentrated.

(2) The solute concentrations in the feed and final concentrate.
(3) The water vapor pressure/concentration relationship for the feed stream.
(4) The water vapor pressure/salt concentration relationship for the strip solution.
 L H 2O  P 
(5) The intrinsic water vapor permeability of the OD membrane, expressed as:  
 s  m 2


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OSMOTIC DISTILLATION
Process design

The process employs partial batch

recycle on the feed side (to minimize
large feed viscosity changes through
the membrane) and continuous
countercurrent recycle plus
evaporative reconcentration of the
brine strip.
Figure 9. Typical OD system for juice concentration
Chemical Engineering Progress, 1998

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OSMOTIC DISTILLATION
Process design

In the figure 10, we can see the

following, the wine from a chilled
storage tank is continuously
recycled through the shell side of
the OD contactor array, while strip
solution (water) from a second
storage tank is continuously
recycled.

Figure 10. Dealcoholization of ferments by evaporative

pertraction
Chemical Engineering Progress, 1998 17
OSMOTIC DISTILLATION

Advantage & drawback

Advantage
Retains flavours and fragrances better than thermal techniques.
The solutes are concentrated at low temperature and pressure, with minimal thermal or mechanical
damage to or loss of those solutes (thermal labile)

Drawback
Is a process very expensive for water removal from solution than more-conventional processes such
as distillation, UF, and RO.

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