Simulation of momentum, heat and mass transfer in direct contact membrane distillation: A computational fluid dynamics approach

Abstract

Membrane distillation is one of the newest methods for water purification. In this study, the behavior of direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process under various operating conditions was mathematically modeled using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The effects of different parameters on transmembrane flux and temperature polarization coefficient (TPC) were measured by global sensitivity analysis technique. The sensitivity analysis results indicated that the most affecting design parameters in DCMD are membrane thickness and feed temperature.