Enrichment of Semi-Volatile Organic Acids from Aqueous Solutions by Multiple-Effect Membrane Distillation

Multiple-effect membrane distillation （MEMD） process for enriching semi-volatile organic acids from their individual aqueous solutions was performed by using a hollow fiber-based air gap membrane distillation （AGMD） module with the function of internal heat recovery. Aqueous solutions of glyoxylic acid, glycolic acid, lactic acid, pyrnvic acid, malonic acid and glutaric acid were used as model feed. For a feed of 1% （mass fraction）, each acid could be enriched for 8--20 times, which depended on the surface tension of the concentrate. The operation performance of MEMD process was characterized by permeation flux J, performance ratio PR and acid rejection rate R. The effects of cold feed-in temperature, heated feed-in temperature, feed-in volumetric flow rate and feed-in concen- tration on MEMD performance were experimentally evaluated. Maximum values of J, PR and R were 4.8 L/（h-m2）, 9.84 and 99.93%, respectively. Moreover, MEMD process demonstrated a fairly good stability in a long-term experiment lasting for 30 d when aqueous solution of 4% （mass fraction） lactic acid was used as a feed.

STUDY ON CONCENTRATING SULFURIC ACID SOLUTION BY VACUUM MEMBRANE DISTILLATION

Concentrating sulfuric acid solution by vacuum membrane distillation with flat PEFE membrane is explored. The effects of sulfuric acid concentration, temperature of the feed, the vacuum degree of the vacuum side on the flux of membrane distillation and the separation efficiency of acid are investigated. The results illustrate that the flux of the membrane distillation increases with the rise of feed temperature and the vacuum degree of the vacuum side, but it decreases with the rise of the sulfuric acid concentration of the feed. The separation efficiency of acid is correlated with the flux of membrane distillation; the separation efficiency of the acid can amount to 100% in the process, when operative conditions are properly controlled. It can also been obtained from the experiment that, compared with other methods of membrane distillation, the vacuum membrane distillation can obtain greater distillation flux.

Study on the Removal of MIBK from Aqueous Solution by Vacuum Membrane Distillation

Methyl isobutyl ketone(MIBK) is widely used as extraction agent in hydrometallurgy. As it has a definite solubility in water, so when using MIBK as extraction agent, there will be MIBK in stripping solutions inevitably, which not only pollutes working conditions, but also affects the quality of ultimate product. In order to remove MIBK from aqueous solutions, the means of flat vacuum membrane distillation(VMD) is studied in the paper. The area of the membrane used in the study is 0.02 m 2, the initial volume of feed is 2 L, each experiment was conducted over a time period of 60 120 min. The influences of the factors such as temperature(34.8 55.0 ℃); pressure in the permeate side(10.67 14.67 kPa) and feed flow rate(27.8 69.4 mL/s) were experimentally studied. Increasing the temperature or reducing the pressure in the permeate side results in a faster removal of MIBK; however there is a decrease in removal factor β , increasing the feed flow rate results in a faster removal of MIBK and an increase of removal factor β , especially in the range of lower flow rate. The study indicates that the aim of MIBK removal and recycle from dilute aqueous solutions can be achieved by VMD.

Hydrochloric acid recovery from rare earth chloride solutions by vacuum membrane distillation

The possibility of the recovery of hydrochloric acid from rare earth （RE） chloride solutions was first experimentally studied by batch vacuum membrane distillation （VMD）. The recovery by continuous VMD was also studied to devise methods that enabled the operation of VMD setup in a stable condition as well as to increase the membrane-operating life The results indicated that HCl separation with RE by VMD was possible, and the recovery ratio of 80% could be achieved by batch VMD. In continuous VMD, when the temperature of circular solutions, circular rate, and downstream pressure was 62-63℃, 5.4 cm/s, and 9.33 kPa, respectively, the HCl concentration in circular solutions and the processing capacity per membrane area were obtained. The mathematical results were in accordance with the experimental ones.

Hydrophobic modification of poly(phthalazinone ether sulfone ketone) hollow fiber membrane for vacuum membrane distillation

New hydrophobic poly（phthalazinone ether sulfone ketone） （PPESK） hollow fiber composite membranes were obtained by surface-coated modification method.

Hydrochloric Acid Recovery from Rare Earth Chloride Solutions by Vacuum Membrane Distillation (1) Study on the Possibility

The equilibrium between the gas-liquid phases of the system of HCl-RECl_3-H_2O was analyzed,and the possibility of hydrochloric acid recovery from rare earth chloride solutions by vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) was experimentally studied in the laboratory scale. The results indicate that increasing initial concentrations of both hydrochloric acid and rare earth increase recovery ratio of hydrochloric acid,and recovery ratio of 80% can be achieved. Concentrated multiple of rare earth shows great influence on recovery ratio,leakage ratio of rare earth is less than 2% generally,and pure acid can be acquired in the permeate side. The two factors,namely flux and leakage ratio,which may determine the future use of VMD were also discussed.

Removal of aqueous phenol compound by vacuum membrane distillation

The effects of feed temperature and pH value on the removal of aqueous phenol wastewater by vacuum membrane distillation process are studied by experiments employing micro porous membranes of poly vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and ploy tetrafluoro ethylene (PTFE) with nominal average pore sizes 0.22 mm and 0.20 mm, respectively. It is found that the optimal feed temperature for PVDF membrane is 50 ℃; and for PTFE membrane, 60 ℃. The pH value of the feed has little influence on the membrane fluxes and ion rejection ratios, while it influenced considerably on the selectivity. Increase of pH value of the feed is conducive to the increase of selectivity. In the same experimental conditions, PTFE membrane shows better separation performance than PVDF membrane does.

Removal of 2,4-dichlorophenol from wasterwater by vacuum membrane distillation using hydrophobic PPESK hollow hiber membrane

2,4-Dichlorophenol was removed from wasterwater using a new hydrophobic poly（phthalazinone ether sulfone ketone） （PPESK） hollow fiber membrane by vacuum membrane distillation （VMD）.

Preparation of High Concentration Polyaluminum Chloride with High Al_c Content by Membrane Distillation

A direct contact membrane distillation（DCMD）process was applied to prepare high concentration polyaluminum chloride（PACl）with high Alc content.The changes in total Al concentration（AlT）and Al species distribution were investigated.The results showed that AlT increased but the flux decreased with operating time during the DCMD process.The Alc content increased from 65%to 81%while the Alb content decreased from 34% to 18%,and the Ala content was almost 1%in the process.2.1 mol·L 1PACl with 81%Alc was successfully prepared by DCMD method.Thus the DCMD is an effective method for preparing high concentration PACl with high Alc content.

A Combined Forward Osmosis and Membrane Distillation System for Sidestream Treatment

Separate treatment of high-nutrient sidestream is an efficient and cost effective way to decrease the loading on the main plant, resulting in lower effluent nutrient concentration. This study investigated the use of a combined forward osmosis-membrane distillation (FO-MD) system for the removal of nitrogen present in high concentration in sidestream from anaerobic digestion process. The combined system was able to achieve almost 100% rejection of solids and acetic acid, and more than 98% rejection of NH3-N from the sidestream. The high rejection of NH3-N was mainly achieved by the FO process. The solids in the feed solution contributed to fouling problem in both FO and MD, resulting in significant decline in flux. However, 76% or higher flux recovery was achieved for FO membrane by cleaning with tap water. We observed that flux recovery was due to removal of solids from the membrane surface by the cleaning process. FO membrane also demonstrated excellent performance for continuous operation when cleaned for 15 min in every 24 h interval. Overall, the combined FO-MD system was found to be an effective solution for treatment of nutrient rich sidestream.

STUDY ON CONCENTRATING SULFURIC ACID SOLUTION BY MEMBRANE DISTILLATION WITH METAL - PTFE COMPOSITE MEMBRANE

concentrating sulfuric acid by membrane distillation in a flat sheet direct contact membrane distillation device with a self made metal PTFE composite membrane has been studied. The effect of sulfuric acid concentration of feed, the flowrate and liquor temperature in high temperature side and low temperature side on the flux and separation efficiency is investigated. The stability of this composite membrane is also inspected. The experimental results show that the metal PTFE composite membrane can be used in membrane distillation, and its properties are very stable. It is feasible to concentrate sulfuric acid by membrane distillation with this membrane.

Superhydrophobic modification of ceramic membranes for vacuum membrane distillation

The hydrophobically modi fied ceramic membranes have great potential for energy-ef ficient membrane distillation.In this work,flat-sheet ceramic membranes with a superhydrophobic surface were fabricated by grafting 1H,1H,2H,2H-per fluorooctyltrichlorosilane or 1H,1H,2H,2H-per fluorodecyltriethoxysilane and followed by ultraviolet irradiation.The surface water contact angle was improved from 46° of original ceramic membrane to 159°,which exhibited a stable and excellent superhydrophobic effect.The modi fied membranes showed a high flux of 27.28 kg·m^(-2)·h^(-1) and simultaneously maintained an excellent retention rate of 99.99%,when used in vacuum membrane distillation process for treatment of a 1 wt% NaCl(75 °C) aqueous solution.These results suggested that superhydrophobic modi fication of ceramic surface is a facile and cost-effective way to achieve higher membrane distillation performance.The superhydrophobically-modi fied ceramic membrane with an excellent desalination capacity would show considerable potential in practical membrane distillation utilizations.

Study on Regeneration of MDEA Solution Using Membrane Distillation

Treating acid gases contained in natural gas by MDEA is used widely. But the efficiency of regeneration of the MDEA solution limited the development of this technology. An optimal temperature is necessary for regeneration of the MDEA solution using membrane distillation. The experiment results showed that the regeneration rate of MDEA rose with an increasing temperature. But the rate increased slowly after the regeneration temperature arrived at a certain value. This study can confirm that regeneration of the MDEA solution using membrane distillation is feasible. This technology provides more advantages as compared to conventional regeneration process.

Improvement of porous polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluropropylene hollow fiber membranes for sweeping gas membrane distillation of ethylene glycol solution

Porous polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluropropylene(PVDF-HFP)hollow fiber membranes were fabricated through a wet spinning process.In order to improve the membrane structure,composition of the polymer solution was adjusted by studying ternary phase diagrams of polymer/solvent/non-solvent.The prepared membranes were used for sweeping gas membrane distillation(SGMD)of 20 wt% ethylene glycol(EG)aqueous solution.The membranes were characterized by different tests such as N2 permeation,overall porosity,critical water entry pressure(CEPw),water contact angle and collapsing pressure.From FESEM examination,addition of 3 wt% glycerol in the PVDF-HFP solution,produced membranes with smaller finger-likes cavities,higher surface porosity and smaller pore sizes.Increasing the polymer concentration up to 21 wt% resulted in a dense spongy structure which could significantly reduce the N2 permeance.The membrane prepared by 3 wt% glycerol and 17 wt% polymer demonstrated an improved structure with mean pore size of 18 nm and a high surface porosity of 872 m^−1.CEPw of 350 kPa and overall porosity of 84% were also obtained for the improved membrane.Collapsing pressure of the membranes relatively improved by increasing the polymer concentration.From the SGMDtest,the developed membrane represented a maximumpermeate flux of 28 kg·m^−2·h^−1 which is almost 19% higher than the flux of plain membrane.During 120 h of a long-termSGMD operation,a gradual flux reduction of 30% was noticed.In addition,EG rejection reduced from 100% to around 99.5% during 120 h of the operation.

Influence of osmotic distillation on membrane absorption for the treatment of high strength ammonia wastewater

Osmotic distillation(OD) was found to be a coupled process in membrane absorption(MA) for the treatment of high strength ammonia wastewater. As a result, ammonia could not be concentrated in absorption solution(AS) as expected. The inhibition of the coupled OD in MA process was investigated as well as various factors affecting the inhibition. The results indicated that the coupled OD can be effectively inhibited by heating concentrated solution and cooling dilute solution. It was also found that experimental minimum inhibition temperature difference(MITD) between concentrated and dilute solutions was different when using polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF) and polypropylene(PP) membranes respectively, which could be ascribed to material properties, such as OD and membrane distillation(MD) coefficients of the membranes. Experimental MITDs were found to be higher than theoretical MITDs which were calculated using a simplified method.

Innovative hydrophobic/hydrophilic perfluoropolyether(PFPE)/polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)composite membrane for vacuum membrane distillation

Though membrane distillation(MD)has gained more and more attention in the field of desalination,the wetting phenomenon was still a non-negligible problem.In this work,a method combined dip-coating and UV in situ polymerization for preparing hydrophobic/hydrophilic perfluoropolyether(PFPE)/polyvinylidene fluoride composite membranes.This composite membrane consisted of a top thin hydrophobic coating layer and hydrophilic substrate membrane.In terms of anti-wetting properties,contact angle and liquid entry pressure of all composite membranes(except for those based on 0.45μm)exceeded 160°and 0.3 MPa,respectively.In particular,the desalination performance was tested in vacuum membrane distillation tests by feeding 3.5%(mass)saline solution(NaCl)at 60℃.The composite membranes with larger support pore size and lower PFPE content had higher membrane distillation flux.And for stability tests(testing the 0.22μm membrane coated by 5%(mass)PFPE),the highest MD flux29.08 kg·m^(-2)·h^(-1) and stable salt rejection(over 99.99%)during the period.Except that,the effects of coating material concentration and pore sizes of substrate membrane were also investigated for surface morphology and topography,porosity,mechanical strength and pore size characteristics.This work provided a simple and effective alternative to prepare excellent hydrophobic composite membranes for MD applications.

Trends in Membrane Distillation for Wastewater Treatment

Membrane distillation (MD) is a promising technology that enables the treatment of high-salinity wastewater. To monitor the state and trends of MD technology for wastewater treatment, the patent filings from the last nine years were analyzed. A total of 72 documents with a special focus either on the membrane itself or on the equipment and process were found. China, United States and Japan play a leading role in the development of these technologies. Most of the inventions concentrating on the membrane apply polymers as the material. Inventions describing the equipment and process are mainly related to system and module design, but also cover the combination of MD with other technologies, the treatment customization to a specific type of wastewater, fouling control and cleaning, and energy recovery. Finally, enhancements in water flux and energy efficiency are found to be key factors to broaden the application of MD technology in wastewater treatment.

SEPARATION OF FORMIC ACID-WATER AZEOTROPIC MIXTURES BY MEMBRANE DISTILLATION

The azeotrope disappeared when the formic acid-water mixtures were treated by membrane distillation. Membrane distillation were used for separation of formic acid-water azeotropic mixtures for the first time.

Fouling evaluation on membrane distillation used for reducing solvent in polyphenol rich propolis extract

Membrane distillation(MD) has not been widely studied in the concentrate of phenolic rich solution in comparison to osmotic distillation. In this work, the potential of MD to reduce solvent in the polyphenol rich propolis extract was further investigated. Polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF) membranes were engineered with the smaller pore size for the less hydrophobic surface in order to avoid wetting, allowing only the solvent vapor to be transferred from the warm feed into the cold permeate. All the membranes exhibited more than 95% rejection of phenolic and flavonoid compounds. Although the hydrophilic membranes exhibited less fouling, they displayed a lower flux than the hydrophobic membrane due to the hindrance in the wetted pores. The hydrophobic membrane was seriously fouled by the phenolic acid as shown in the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectrum. Pore plugging occurred on these hydrophobic membranes as confirmed in the scanning electron microscope images.

Hydrochloric Acid Recovery from Rare Earth Chloride Solutions by Continuous Vacuum Membrane Distillation

The hydrochloric acid recovery from rare earth chloride solutions by continuous vacuum membrane distillation was first experimentally studied, then material balance of the process was calculated, and the equations which mathematically stimulate the process were lastly achieved. The results indicate a given RE concentration in circular solutions means its constant HCl concentration during the continuous VMD process, furthermore, increasing RE concentration in feed solutions increases the processing capacity per membrane of the experimental set-up. When keeping constant RE concentration in feed solutions, increasing RE concentration in circular solutions decreases its HCl concentration, and HCl recovery ratio increases accordingly, however, processing capacity per membrane of the experimental set-up decreases at the same time. The mathematical results are in accordance with experimental results.