Wetting criteria for the applicability of membrane distillation

A.C.M. Franken, J.A.M. Nolten, M.H.V. Mulder, D. Bargeman, C.A. Smolders

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademic

385 Citations (Scopus)
667 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Membrane distillation can only be applied on liquid mixtures which do not wet a microporous hydrophobic membrane. Solutions of inorganic material in water have such high values of surface tension (γLgreater-or-equal, slanted72x10−3 N/m) that the non-wetting condition is fulfilled for a number of hydrophobic membranes. As soon as organic solutes are present in the solution, the surface tensionγL will be lowered, and if the concentration of organic material becomes too high, wetting of the membrane will occur. By means of theoretical considerations a critical solute concentration or surface tension at which a homogeneous smooth material will be wetted (gq < 90/deg) can be calculated. For a (micro)porous membranes no such theoretical relation can be derived. Therefore, a simple experimental method is described to measure the maximum allowable concentration for a (micro)porous membrane. On the basis of these measurements, the maximum allowable concentration under process conditions can be determined.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)315-328
JournalJournal of membrane science
Volume33
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1987

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Wetting criteria for the applicability of membrane distillation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this