TY - JOUR
T1 - Cfd investigation of spacer-filled channels for membrane distillation
AU - La Cerva, Mariagiorgia Floriana
AU - Micale, Giorgio Domenico Maria
AU - Ciofalo, Michele
AU - Cipollina, Andrea
AU - Albeirutty, Mohammed
AU - Turkmen, Nedim
AU - Bouguecha, Salah
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The membrane distillation (MD) process for water desalination is affected by temperature polarization, which reduces the driving force and the efficiency of the process. To counteract this phenomenon, spacer-filled channels are used, which enhance mixing and heat transfer but also cause higher pressure drops. Therefore, in the design of MD modules, the choice of the spacer is crucial for process efficiency. In the present work, different overlapped spacers are investigated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and results are compared with experiments carried out with thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC). Results are reported for different flow attack angles and for Reynolds numbers (Re) ranging from ~200 to ~800. A good qualitative agreement between simulations and experiments can be observed for the areal distribution of the normalized heat transfer coefficient. Trends of the average heat transfer coefficient are reported as functions of Re for the geometries investigated, thus providing the basis for CFD-based correlations to be used in higher-scale process models.
AB - The membrane distillation (MD) process for water desalination is affected by temperature polarization, which reduces the driving force and the efficiency of the process. To counteract this phenomenon, spacer-filled channels are used, which enhance mixing and heat transfer but also cause higher pressure drops. Therefore, in the design of MD modules, the choice of the spacer is crucial for process efficiency. In the present work, different overlapped spacers are investigated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and results are compared with experiments carried out with thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC). Results are reported for different flow attack angles and for Reynolds numbers (Re) ranging from ~200 to ~800. A good qualitative agreement between simulations and experiments can be observed for the areal distribution of the normalized heat transfer coefficient. Trends of the average heat transfer coefficient are reported as functions of Re for the geometries investigated, thus providing the basis for CFD-based correlations to be used in higher-scale process models.
KW - Computational fluid dynamics
KW - Desalination
KW - Membrane distillation
KW - Spacer-filled channel
KW - Temperature polarization
KW - Thermochromic liquid crystals
KW - Computational fluid dynamics
KW - Desalination
KW - Membrane distillation
KW - Spacer-filled channel
KW - Temperature polarization
KW - Thermochromic liquid crystals
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10447/398524
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/9/8/91/pdf
M3 - Article
VL - 9
JO - Membranes
JF - Membranes
SN - 2077-0375
ER -