Natural Vacuum–Enhanced Air‐Gap Membrane Distillation (NV‐AGMD): A Proof‐Of‐Concept Experimental and Theoretical Study
Amir Bahmanabadi, Mohammad Behshad Shafii
Source abstract
ABSTRACT Desalination of saline water via air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) can be enhanced by reducing the air‐gap pressure. In this study, we present a proof‐of‐concept for a novel “natural vacuum–enhanced air gap membrane distillation” (NV‐AGMD) system in which the reduction of air‐gap pressure has been achieved using a water column. Our results demonstrate that this approach increases the permeate flux without additional energy demand. For 24‐h tests with 0.5 M feed salinity, a flow rate of 60 L/h and temperatures of 85°C, the proposed method increased the average flux by 290% compared with conventional AGMD. With re‐vacuuming every 4 h using the natural vacuum approach, the flux improvement reached about 454%. Moreover, the electrical energy consumption per cubic meter of produced water decreased by roughly 49% without re‐vacuuming and 58% with re‐vacuuming relative to standard AGMD.
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