Membrane Module Design of Multieffect Plate Membrane Distillation and Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation

Membrane distillation (MD) has broad prospects in the high-concentration process of saline wastewater. However, the MD process has low flux, low heat transfer efficiency, and high energy consumption, which are the key problems limiting its industrial application. The multieffect MD process serves as an efficient approach to recover the latent heat of steam and reduce energy consumption. Hence, designing and optimizing a membrane module structure which is suitable for the multieffect process is necessary. In this paper, a membrane module which has a reasonable plate frame structure as well as a feed channel structure with spacers added was designed and simulated by the computational fluid dynamics method. Through design optimization and simulation, the uniformity of the feed distribution and the mass transfer efficiency of the membrane module are significantly enhanced. Consequently, this study lays a foundational groundwork for the future implementation and application of the multieffect plate MD process.