International Colloquia on Thermal Innovations #16: Thermal Desalination by Membrane Distillation

Membrane distillation (MD) separates water vapor from a warm liquid using a porous hydrophobic membrane. A liquid-vapor interface is formed at the entrance to each pore, and vapor passes through the pores to be condensed on the other side of the membrane. MD is advantageous for desalinating high salinity feeds, for which high osmotic pressure makes reverse osmosis impractical. MD research has focused on raising energy efficiency and preventing pore wetting caused by scaling or fouling. Efficient designs recuperate the latent heat of condensation and minimize temperature differences. This panel will discuss MD configurations, scaling control, direct heating of membranes, and performance tests on pilot-scale systems. Today’s MD performance can match best-in-class, large-scale thermal desalination systems, but with compact designs that do not require large metal heat exchangers. Panelists: David Warsinger, Purdue University Shihong Lin, Vanderbilt University Qilin Li, Rice University Guillermo Zaragoza, Solar Desalination Unit, Almeria Solar Platform Moderator: John Lienhard, MIT Mouse over to the video, a white "i" icon in the right-top corner will appear. Click on the icon, the polls will appear, then click on the poll you like to see, which will open a separated window that shows the poll. Questions from the Q&A: https://meche.mit.edu/sites/default/f... Learn more about the Innotherm webinars: https://meche.mit.edu/international-c...