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Study on vacuum membrane distillation coupled with mechanical vapor recompression system for the concentration of sulfuric acid solution

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Abstract

This paper presents a new vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) coupled with mechanical vapor recompression system for the concentration of sulfuric acid solution; the mathematical models based on the mass and energy balances in each part of the system are established. The influences of the corresponding operating parameters including feed concentration, feed temperature, feed velocity and permeate-side absolute pressure on membrane flux are investigated and discussed. The membrane flux increases with the increase in feed temperature and velocity, but it decreases with the increase in feed concentration and permeate-side absolute pressure. Furthermore, the energy consumption of the proposed system is explored through analyzing the influences from key factors, including boiling point elevation, temperature and concentration polarization and heat transfer temperature difference of heat exchanger on power consumption of compressor. Compared with the conventional VMD system and multi-effect MD system, the proposed system can save 77.6% and 20.4% energy due to a significant improvement in thermal efficiency by recovering the latent heat of vaporization. Eventually, an economic evaluation of the proposed system is performed comprehensively and the most optimized compression ratio of compressor can be obtained, which can guarantee the lowest energy consumption and total annual cost. Therefore, these results can provide significant references for the implementation and further optimization of the proposed system in the future.

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Abbreviations

A :

Heat transfer area of heat exchanger (m2)

A f :

Effective membrane area (m2)

C :

Cost ($)

C p :

Heat capacity of feed solution (kJ kg−1 °C−1)

d :

Flow channel hydraulic diameter (m)

D L :

Diffusion coefficient of the solute in solvent (m2 s−1)

e 1, e 2, e 3, e 4 :

The calculation precision

F :

Mass flow rate (kg s−1)

h :

Enthalpy (kJ kg−1)

h f :

Heat transfer coefficient at the feed solution boundary layer (W m−2 °C−1)

i :

Interest rate

k :

Isentropic exponent

K f :

Solute mass transfer coefficient across thermal boundary layer (m s−1)

K m :

Mass transfer coefficient across the membrane pores (kg m−2 s−1 Pa−1)

M :

Water molecular mass

N :

Membrane flux (kg m−2 h−1)

Nu :

Nusselt number

P m :

Mean pressure of membrane pore (kPa)

P P :

Pressure in the permeate side (kPa)

Pr :

Prandtl number

Q f :

Heat transfers from the bulk solution to the membrane surface through the boundary layer (W m−2)

Q m :

Heat transfers from the membrane surface to permeate side through the membrane (W m−2)

r :

Pore size (m)

R :

Universal gas constant (J mol−1 °C−1)

Re :

Reynolds number

Sc :

Schmidt number

Sh :

Sherwood number

T f :

Temperature of the feed bulk solution (°C)

T fm :

Temperature at the feed membrane surface (°C)

T m :

Mean temperature of membrane pore (°C)

U :

Overall coefficient of heat transfer of heat exchanger (W m−2 °C−1)

W :

Power (W)

x :

Solute mass fraction of the solution (%)

y, z, q :

Characteristic constants of the solution flow regime

ΔH :

Latent heat of vaporization (J kg−1)

Δt LMTD :

Logarithmic mean temperature difference of heat exchanger (°C)

BPE:

Boiling point elevation

CPC:

Concentration polarization coefficient

IC:

Investment cost ($)

MVR:

Mechanical vapor recompression

M&S:

Marshall and Swift index

OC:

Operating cost ($)

PTFE:

Polytetrafluoroethylene

TAC:

Total annual cost ($)

TPC:

Temperature polarization coefficient

VMD:

Vacuum membrane distillation

γ :

Mole fraction

δ :

Thickness (m)

ε :

Porosity

η :

Efficiency

θ:

Amortization year

λ :

Thermal conductivity of feed solution (W m−1 °C−1)

μ :

Dynamic viscosity of feed solution (Pa s−1)

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

τ :

Tortuosity

φ:

Amortization factor

ψ :

Coefficient

B:

Boundary layer

com:

Compressor

ele:

Electricity

eva:

Evaporation

f:

Feed side

fm:

Membrane surface in feed side

hex:

Heat exchanger

L:

Liquid phase

m:

Membrane

me:

Mechanical

ms:

Membrane separator

p:

Pore, pressure, permeate side

sm:

Saturated state at the membrane surface

sp:

Saturated state in permeate side

th:

Thermal

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. NP2018107) and Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX19_0183).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Energy and Power Engineering, Energy Conservation Research Group (ECGR), Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, Jiangsu, China

    Zetian Si, Dong Han, Jiming Gu, Junjie Chen, Mingrui Zheng, Yan Song & Ning Mao

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Correspondence to Dong Han.

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Si, Z., Han, D., Gu, J. et al. Study on vacuum membrane distillation coupled with mechanical vapor recompression system for the concentration of sulfuric acid solution. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 41, 473 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-019-1967-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-019-1967-5

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