Thermodynamic design and fouling of membrane distillation systems

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Warsinger, David Elan Martin
Other Authors: John H. Lienhard V.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100154
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author Warsinger, David Elan Martin
author2 John H. Lienhard V.
author_facet John H. Lienhard V.
Warsinger, David Elan Martin
author_sort Warsinger, David Elan Martin
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description Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1001542019-04-11T10:08:16Z Thermodynamic design and fouling of membrane distillation systems Warsinger, David Elan Martin John H. Lienhard V. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical Engineering. Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (pages 282-304). As water shortages intensify globally under the stresses of increasing demand, aquifer depletion, and climate change, the market for efficient desalination technologies has grown rapidly to fill the void. One such developing technology, membrane distillation (MD), has experienced keen academic interest and an increase in start-up businesses in the past decade. MD has expanded into a niche of small scale thermal desalination using solar and waste heat resources, due to its fouling resistance, scalability, and acceptable efficiency. Recent studies indicate that MD could attain the efficiencies of state-of-the-art mature thermal desalination technologies, although additional engineering and scientific challenges must first be overcome. The aim of this research is to better understand and provide solutions for two major challenge areas for MD: efficiency and membrane fouling. Studies on improving MD efficiency included examining the effects of tilt angle on MD performance using numerical simulations paired with experiments, devising a novel MD system design for with superhydrophobic surfaces to improved efficiencies, and an entropy-generation comparison of MD to other desalination technologies. For fouling studies in MD, a review of MD fouling was undertaken to synthesize conclusions from the literature and to explore gaps in the literature. This review lead to studies of the effect of filtration and bulk nucleation on MD fouling, a study on heterogeneous nucleation of inorganic salts with a fouling regime map to avoid nucleation, and fouling prevention via induced air-layers. by David Elan Martin Warsinger. Ph. D. 2015-12-03T20:56:52Z 2015-12-03T20:56:52Z 2015 2015 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100154 930152569 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 304 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering.
Warsinger, David Elan Martin
Thermodynamic design and fouling of membrane distillation systems
title Thermodynamic design and fouling of membrane distillation systems
title_full Thermodynamic design and fouling of membrane distillation systems
title_fullStr Thermodynamic design and fouling of membrane distillation systems
title_full_unstemmed Thermodynamic design and fouling of membrane distillation systems
title_short Thermodynamic design and fouling of membrane distillation systems
title_sort thermodynamic design and fouling of membrane distillation systems
topic Mechanical Engineering.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100154
work_keys_str_mv AT warsingerdavidelanmartin thermodynamicdesignandfoulingofmembranedistillationsystems