Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Desalination
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/desal

Desalination by solar powered membrane distillation systems

Mohammed Rasool Qtaishat a,, Fawzi Banat b
a
b

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan

Department of Chemical Engineering, The Petroleum Institute, PO Box 2533 Abu Dhabi, UAE

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 18 October 2011
Received in revised form 14 January 2012
Accepted 22 January 2012
Available online 25 February 2012
Keywords:
Membrane distillation
Desalination
Solar energy
Solar collectors

a b s t r a c t
Membrane distillation (MD) is a hybrid membrane-evaporative process which has been of interest for desalination. MD requires two types of energy, namely, low temperature heat and electricity. Solar collectors and
PV panels are mature technologies which could be coupled to MD process. The interest of using solar powered membrane distillation (SPMD) systems for desalination is growing worldwide due to the MD attractive
features. Small scale SPMD units suitable to provide water for human needs in remote areas where water and
electricity infrastructures are currently lacking have been developed and tested by a number of researchers.
The combination of solar energy with MD has proven technically feasible; however, the cost of produced
water is relatively high compared with that produced from the commercial PVRO process. The production
of commercial, reliable, low cost and long lasting MD modules will put this process on the front edge of
desalination technologies. The aim of this article is to present the main features of MD along with its basic
principles. Efforts of researchers in coupling MD with solar energy and their cost estimates are reviewed as well.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The demand on fresh water is growing steadily and is becoming
one of the worldwide challenges. The World Health Organization
(WHO) estimates that 20% of the world's population has inadequate
access to drinking water. Although over two-thirds of the planet is
covered with water, 99.3% of the total water is either too salty (seawater) or inaccessible (ice caps). Since water is potable only when
it contains less than 500 ppm of salt, much research has gone into
nding efcient methods of removing salt from seawater and brackish water. These are called desalination processes. Desalination of
seawater is a promising alternative to compensate for the shortage
of drinking water. Generally, desalination can be accomplished
using a number of techniques. These may be classied under the following categories:Thermal processes that involve phase change such
as Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) and Multi Stage Flash (MSF). Membrane processes that do not involve phase change such as Reverse
Osmosis (RO) and electro dialysis (ED).Hybrid process that involve
both membrane and phase change such as membrane distillation (MD).
The thermal desalination processes depend on the evaporation of
water by the addition of heat provided by the sun or by combustion
processes, this was one of mankind's earliest forms of water treatment and is still a popular treatment solution. On the other hand,
the development of modern polymeric materials in recent years has
led to the production of membranes which allow the selective
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mrasool78@yahoo.com (M.R. Qtaishat), banatf@just.edu.jo
(F. Banat).
0011-9164/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.desal.2012.01.021

passage of water in liquid or vapor state or ions and thus providing

the basis for membrane desalination processes. Among those membrane processes, RO is the leading commercial membrane desalination process which requires applying high pressure to overcome the
osmotic pressure.
It is worth mentioning that both, thermal and RO are the leading
desalination processes in the water market [1]. However, those processes suffer from drawbacks and some technical difculties which
are: i) They are considered energy intensive either by the heat demand
(i.e. thermal processes) or by the high pressure demand as in reverse
osmosis process, this high energy consumption generates more pollutants and undesired emissions. ii) The scaling and fouling problem is one
of the major challenges that adds to the complexity and cost of those
processes. iii) The membrane cost and its durability in the membrane
processes are still immature subjects that require more research and
development.
These drawbacks affected the economic feasibility of those processes, which necessitates the search for alternative, environment
friendly and sustainable desalination.
Membrane distillation (MD) is a promising new comer to the
desalination processes which can be coupled to low-grade and renewable energy source such as wind and solar energy.
The developments in the use of renewable energy sources (RES)
have demonstrated that it is ideally suited for desalination, when
the demand of fresh water is not too large. The rapid escalation in
the costs of fuels has made the RES alternative more attractive. In certain remote arid regions, this may be the only alternative.
The interdependence of water and energy is increasingly evident
due to their territorial, environmental and economic implications.

M.R. Qtaishat, F. Banat / Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

Innovations in the area of energy supply can improve the economic

viability of prospective desalination plants considerably. Recently,
considerable attention has been given to the use of renewable energy
including solar, wind and geothermal as sources for desalination,
especially in remote areas and islands, because of the high costs of
fossil fuels.
Solar energy can be used for seawater desalination either by producing the thermal energy required to drive the phase-change processes or
by producing the electricity required to drive the membrane processes.
It should be claried that membrane distillation (MD) has not
been yet commercialized for large-scale desalination plant in spite
of its attractive features especially the possibility of coupling to lowgrade source of energy, this is due to the lower ux of MD and
some technical problems such as the membrane wetting. However,
much research has gone into developing new membranes for MD
that overcomes those membrane design drawbacks [26].
MD applications are not limited only to desalination, since lower
operating temperatures have also made membrane distillation attractive in the food industry where concentrated fruit juices and sugar solutions can be prepared with better avor and color [7], in medical
eld where high temperatures can sterilize biological uids [8], and
in the environmental applications such as removal of benzene and
heavy metals from water [36].
The purpose of this research paper is to provide a state-of-the-art
review on membrane distillation systems associated with solar energy for seawater and brackish water desalination. This article presents
the membrane distillation principle, congurations, mathematical
models and economic feasibility.

2. Membrane distillation process

Membrane distillation (MD) is a hybrid of thermal distillation and
membrane processes. MD is a relatively new process that is being investigated worldwide as a low cost and energy saving alternative to
conventional separation processes such as distillation and reverse osmosis [26]. Membrane distillation (MD) process is not commercialized yet for large scale industry. The reason behind this is that MD
process ux is lower than the commercialized separation processes.
The principle of membrane distillation is illustrated in Fig. 1. Conventionally, membrane distillation (MD) is a thermally driven process
in which a microporous membrane acts as a physical support separating a warm solution from a cooler chamber, which contains either a
liquid or a gas.
As the process is non-isothermal, vapor molecules (water vapor in
the case of concentrating non-volatile solutes) migrate through the
membrane pores from the high to the low vapor pressure side; that
is, from the warmer to the cooler compartment.

187

Generally, the transport mechanism of MD can be summarized in

the following steps:
Evaporation of water at the warm feed side of the membrane.
Migration of water vapor through the non-wetted pores.
Condensation of water vapor transported at the permeate side of
the membrane.
2.1. Membrane distillation congurations
Among membrane distillation processes, variation exists as to the
method by which the vapor is recovered once it has migrated through
the membrane. These alternatives are as follows:
2.1.1. Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD)
DCMD is the oldest and most widely used process, having liquid
phases in direct contact with both sides of the membrane. The vapor
diffusion path is limited to the thickness of the membrane, thereby
reducing mass and heat transfer resistances. Condensation within the
pores is avoided by selecting appropriate temperature differences
across the membrane.
It is worth mentioning that in DCMD conguration the heat losses
by conduction through the membrane matrix is higher than other
conguration due to the existence a continuous contact between
the membrane surfaces and the feed (hot) and permeate (cold)
solutions.
2.1.2. Air gap membrane distillation (AGMD)
AGMD has an additional air gap interposed between the membrane and the condensation surface. This gives rise to higher heat
and mass transfer resistances. Although heat loss by conduction is reduced, the penalty is ux reduction. The use of an air gap conguration allows larger temperature differences to be applied across the
membrane, which can compensate in part for the greater transfer
resistances.
2.1.3. Vacuum membrane distillation (VMD)
The vapor is withdrawn by applying a vacuum on the permeate
side. The permeate-side pressure is lower than the saturation pressure of the evaporating species and the condensation of the permeate
takes place outside the module.
2.1.4. Sweeping gas membrane distillation
The permeating vapor is removed by using an inert gas stream
which passes on the permeate side of the membrane. Condensation
is done externally and involves large volumes of the sweep gas
and vapor stream. Fig. 2 shows the different congurations of MD.
2.2. Membrane distillation advantages

Membrane

Feed side

Permeate side
(Cold)

(Hot)

Membrane pores
Fig. 1. Principle of membrane distillation.

The benets of membrane distillation compared to other more

popular separation processes stem from:
100% (theoretical) rejection of ions, macromolecules, colloids, cells
and other non-volatiles;
lower operating temperatures than conventional distillation;
lower operating pressures than conventional pressure-driven
membrane separation processes;
reduced chemical interaction between membrane and process
solution;
less demanding membrane mechanical property requirements;
reduced vapor spaces compared to conventional distillation processes.
The last benet is considered one of the amazing advantages of
MD process, since the large vapor space required in conventional distillation column is replaced in MD by the pore volume of a microporous membrane, which is generally of 100 m thick.

188

M.R. Qtaishat, F. Banat / Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

Feed in

Liquid
permeate out

Feed in
Condenser
membrane

membrane

Sweep gas out

Product

Feed out

Liquid
permeate in

Feed out

Sweep gas in

SGMD
DCMD
Feed in
Feed in
Condenser
Permeate

membrane

Coolant out
Air gap

membrane

Condensing
plate
Feed out

Coolant in

Vacuum pump

Feed out

Product
AGMD

VMD

Fig. 2. Membrane distillation congurations.

Conventional distillation relies on high vapor velocities to provide

intimate vapor-liquid contact while MD employs a hydrophobic microporous membrane to support a vaporliquid interface.
As a result, MD process equipment can be much smaller, which
translates to saving in terms of footprint, and the required operating
temperatures are much lower, because it is not necessary to heat
the process liquids above their boiling points. Feed temperature in
membrane distillation typically ranged from 60 to 90 C, although
temperature as low as 30 C has been used [16]. Therefore, lowgrade, waste and/or alternative energy sources such as solar and geothermal energy can be coupled with MD systems for a cost efcient,
energy efcient liquid separation system.
2.3. Membrane distillation disadvantages
The main disadvantage of MD process is the drawback of membrane wetting. The wettability of the microporous membranes is a
function of three main factors: the surface tension of the process solution, membrane material and the membrane structure.
To overcome the membrane wetting: the process solution must be
aqueous and sufciently dilute. This limits MD for certain applications
such as desalination, removal of trace volatile organic compounds
from wastewater and concentration of ionic, colloids or other nonvolatile aqueous solutions [9].
2.4. Membrane distillation membrane

2.4.1. High liquid entry pressure (LEP)

This is the minimum hydrostatic pressure that must be applied
onto the liquid feed solution before it overcomes the hydrophobic
forces of the membrane and penetrates into the membrane pores.
LEP is characteristic of each membrane and permits to prevent wetting
of the membrane pores. High LEP may be achieved using a membrane
material with high hydrophobicity (i.e. large water contact angle) and
a small maximum pore size. However, as the maximum pore size
decreases, the mean pore size of the membrane decreases and the
permeability of the membrane becomes low.
2.4.2. High permeability
The MD ux will increase with an increase in the membrane
pore size and porosity, and with a decrease of the membrane thickness and pore tortuosity. In other words, to obtain a high MD permeability, the surface layer that governs the membrane transport must
be as thin as possible and its surface porosity as well as pore size
must be as large as possible.
In fact, the relationship between the membrane pore size and the
mean free path of migrating molecules determines the dominant diffusion mechanism. In MD, air is trapped within the membrane pores
with pressure values close to the atmospheric pressure if no vacuum

Table 1
Some commercial membranes commonly used in membrane distillation.
Membrane

As a matter of fact, commercial microporous hydrophobic membranes, made of polypropylene (PP), polyvinylidene uoride (PVDF)
and polytetrauoroethylene (PTFE, Teon), available in capillary or
at-sheet forms, have been used in MD experiments although these
membranes were prepared for microltration purposes [9]. Table 1
summarizes some of the commercial membranes commonly used in
MD processes together with some of their characteristics [9].
Recently, the desired characteristics for MD membranes have been
specied, [10]. As it is well known, a MD membrane must be porous
and hydrophobic, with good thermal stability and excellent chemical
resistance to feed solutions. The characteristics needed for MD membranes are the following:

Manufacturer

Material

Thickness
(m)

Gelman

PTFE/PPa

178

Trade name
TF200
TF450
TF1000
GVHP
HVHP
S6/2
MD020CP2N
a

Millipore

PVDF

AkzoNobel
Microdyn

PPc

110
140
450

Average pore
size (m)
0.20
0.45
1.00
0.22
0.45
0.2

Porosity
(%)

80
75
70

Flat-sheet polytetrauoroethylene membranes supported by polypopylene net.

Flat-sheet polyvinylidene uoride membranes.
Polypropylene capillary membrane: number of capillaries in a membrane module:
40; effective ltration area: 0.1 m2, inner capillary diameter: 1.8 mm; length of capillaries: 470 mm.
b
c

M.R. Qtaishat, F. Banat / Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

is applied vapor permeates through the porous membrane, as a result

of molecular diffusion, Knudsen ow and/or the transition between
them [26]. The calculated MD ux considering Knudsen mechanism
is higher than that considering the combined Knudsen/molecular diffusion mechanism.
2.4.3. Low thermal conductivity
In MD heat loss by conduction occurs through both the pores and
the matrix of the membrane. The conductive heat loss is greater for
thinner membranes. Various possibilities may be applied to diminish
the conductive heat loss by using:
i) Membrane materials with low thermal conductivities. This
does not necessarily guarantee the improvement of the MD
process because most hydrophobic polymers have similar
heat conductivities; at least the materials have thermal conductivities with the same order of magnitude.
ii) Membranes with high porosity, since the conductive heat
transfer coefcient of the gas entrapped within the membrane
pores is an order of magnitude smaller than that of the membrane matrix. This possibility is parallel to the need of high
DCMD permeability as the available surface area of evaporation
is enhanced.
iii) Thicker membranes. However, there is a conict between the
requirements of high mass transfer associated with thinner
membranes and low conductive heat transfer through the
membrane obtained by using thicker membranes.
MD can be commercialized for large scale industry if the above
listed membrane requirements are satised, as a result, in recent
years, the MD research attention has gone into preparing membranes
specically for the MD applications. For example, Fang et al. 2004
[11], prepared asymmetric at-sheet membranes from poly (vinylidene uoride-co-tetrauoroethylene) by the phase inversion method. Those membranes were tested by DCMD conguration and the
results were compared to PVDF at-sheet membranes prepared by
the same procedure. Their new membranes exhibited higher ux
than those of the PVDF membranes. They also prepared membranes
from poly(vinylidene uoride-co-hexauoro propylene) [12] and
found that the DCMD performance of these membranes was better
than that of the PVDF membrane. Li and Sirkar 2005 [13] and Song
et al. 2007 [14], designed novel hollow ber membrane and device
for desalination by VMD and DCMD. The membranes were commercial polypropylene (PP) membranes coated with plasma polymerized
silicone uoropolymer. Permeate uxes as high as 71 kg/m2.h were
achieved. Bonyadi and Chung 2007 [15], used the co-extrusion method
to prepare dual layer hydrophilic/hydrophobic hollow ber membranes
for MD. PVDF was used as a host polymer in the dope solution, where
hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfactants were added. A ux as high as
55 kg/m 2.h was achieved using DCMD conguration.
In a series of publications, Qtaishat et al. 2009 and 2010 [1621],
presented the concept of hydrophobic/hydrophilic composite membranes for MD. It was shown that this type of membranes satises
all the requirements of higher ux MD membranes as mentioned earlier. Since the very thin hydrophobic layer is responsible for the mass
transfer, on the other hand the thick hydrophilic layer, the pores of
which are lled with water, will contribute to preventing the heat
loss through the overall membrane.
The hydrophobic/hydrophilic membrane was prepared by phase
inversion method in a single casting step. A hydrophobic surface
modifying macromolecules (SMMs) was blended with a hydrophilic
base polymer. During the casting step, the SMMs migrated to the
air/polymer interface since they have lower surface energy. Consequently, the membrane top-layer becomes hydrophobic while the
bottom layer becomes hydrophilic. These membrane were proved to
be workable membranes in MD, furthermore, their ux data were
much higher than the commercial PTFE membranes.

189

3. Heat and mass transfer membrane distillation

In MD, the driving force for water vapor migration through the
membrane pores is the temperature difference between the feed/
membrane interface temperature (Tmf) and the permeate/membrane
interface temperature (Tmp). Due to the heat losses in MD process, the
membrane/interface temperatures are different from the bulk temperatures. This could be considered as one of the MD process drawbacks. This temperature difference leads to a decrease from the
theoretical driving force, which is dened as the difference between
the bulk feed temperature (Tbf) and the bulk permeate temperature
(Tbp). This phenomenon is known as temperature polarization. The
temperature polarization coefcient (TPC) is dened as the ratio between the actual driving force and the theoretical driving force [22];
as a result the temperature polarization coefcient is expressed
mathematically as the following:

TPC

T mf T mp
:
T bf T bp

It is impossible to measure the membrane/interface temperatures

experimentally; usually these temperatures are evaluated by performing a heat balance that relates them to the bulk temperatures
[22]. In order to solve this heat balance for membrane interface temperatures, the heat transfer coefcients in the adjoining liquid boundary layers to the membrane should be evaluated. Generally, the
boundary layer heat transfer coefcients are evaluated using empirical correlations for the determination of Nusselt number, and a wide
variety of these correlations is shown in Table 2 [22]. It is worth mentioning that each shown empirical correlation is valid for certain ow
regime and module geometry. In a recent article, Qtaishat et al. [23]
solved the heat balance and evaluated experimentally the membrane
surface temperatures via applying different empirical correlation that
takes into account the temperature variation effect on the physical
properties of both feed and permeate solutions.
3.1. Heat transfer
The following heat transfer analysis considers the DCMD conguration; however the same analysis could be applied to other MD conguration with some modications. In DCMD, the heat transfer can be
divided into three regions as shown in Fig. 3; that are: (i) heat transfer in the feed boundary layer, Qf; (ii) Combination of both conductive
heat transfer through the membrane and heat transferred because of
water vapor migration through the membrane pores, Qf; (iii) heat
transfer in the thermal permeate boundary layer, Qp.

Table 2
Empirical correlations for evaluating Nusselt number in MD.
Empirical correlation [22]

Flow regime

Nu 1:86RePr =3
Nu = 3.66
Nu = 4.36
Nu = 0.097Re0.73Pr0.13
1
Nu 1:95RePr =3
0:64 1 =3
Nu 0:13Re Pr
1
Nu 0:023Re0:8 Pr =3
1
Nu 0:036Re0:8 Pr =
3 0:14

Nu 0:027Re0:8 Prc bf

Laminar
Laminar
Laminar
Laminar
Laminar
Laminar
Turbulent
Turbulent
Turbulent
Turbulent

mf

Nua

f =8RePr
 2

1
1:0712:7f =8 =2 Pr =3 1

Nua

f =8Re1000
 2Pr 
1
112:7f =8 =2 Pr =3 1

Turbulent

a
The friction factor, f, in these correlation was estimated by:
f = (0.79 ln(Re) 1.64) 2.

190

M.R. Qtaishat, F. Banat / Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

Feed out
Mf, out
Tbf, out

Heat and mass

fluxes

Combining Eqs. (2)(4), the heat ux can be written as follows:

Permeate in
Mp, in
Tbp, in

11

1
1
1A

@
Q

T bf T bp :
hf hm J w Hv
hp
T T

Tb,f

mf

Tm,f
Permeate
boundary
layer

Feed
boundary
Jw
layer

As a result, the overall heat transfer coefcient (U) for the DCMD
process may be written as:
0

Tm,p

T b,p

Dry pore
Feed in
Mf, in
Tbf, in

Hydrophobic
membrane

Permeate out
Mp, out
Tbp, out

These heat transfer mechanisms can be expressed mathematically

as follows:
Through the feed solution thermal boundary layer:



Q f hf T bf T mf :

Through the permeate solution thermal boundary layer:


Q p hp T mp T bp :

In the above equations, hf is the feed boundary layer heat transfer

coefcient, hp is the permeate boundary layer heat transfer coefcient. Jw is the permeate ux, Tmf and Tmp are the membrane/feed interface temperature and membrane/permeate interface temperature,
respectively. Hv is the latent heat of vaporization, hm is the heat
transfer coefcient of the hydrophobic membrane, which can be calculated from the thermal conductivities of the hydrophobic membrane polymer (km) and air trapped inside the membrane pores (kg).

hm

kg km 1

where and are the thickness and porosity of the hydrophobic

membrane, respectively.
The evaporation efciency, EE, is dened as the ratio between the
heat transferred because of water vapor migration through the membrane pores and the total heat transferred through the membrane
[22]. Mathematically, the evaporation efciency is expressed by
Q m;M:T
J w Hv


:
EE

Q m;M:T Q m;cond J H h T T
w v
m
mf
mp

mp

3.2. Mass transfer


J w Bm pmf pmp

10

where pmf and pmp are the partial pressures of water at the feed and
permeate sides evaluated by using Antoine equation at the temperatures Tmf and Tmp, respectively; such as the following
11

where P v is the water vapor pressure in Pascal and T is the corresponding temperature in Kelvin. However, the water vapor pressure
decreases with increasing the salt concentration in the feed water
according to Raoult's law as follows [9]:
v

P i 1xi P

12

where xi is the weight fraction of salt in water.

Various types of mechanisms have been proposed for transport
of gasses or vapors through porous membranes: Knudsen model, viscous model, ordinary-diffusion model, and/or the combination thereof. The governing quantity that provides a guideline in determining
which mechanism is operative under a given experimental condition
is the Knudsen number, Kn, dened as the ratio of the mean free path
() of the transported molecules to the pore size (diameter, d) of the
membrane; i.e. Kn = /d.
In MD, mass transport across the membrane occurs in three regions
depending on the pore size and the mean free path of the transferring
species [22]: Knudsen region, continuum region (or ordinary-diffusion
region) and transition region (or combined Knudsen/ordinary-diffusion
region). If the mean free path of transporting water molecules is large in
relation with the membrane pore size (i.e. Kn > 1 or r b 0.5, where r is
pore radius), the molecule-pore wall collisions are dominant over the
moleculemolecule collisions and Knudsen type of ow will be the prevailing mechanism that describes the water vapor migration through
the membrane pores. In this case, the net MD membrane permeability
can be expressed as follows.
K

At steady state, the overall heat transfer ux through the whole

DCMD system, Q, is given by
Qf Qm Qp Q:

mf



3841
v
:
P exp 23:328
T45

Through the membrane:


hm T mf T mp J w H v :

11
1
1
1A
@
U

:
hf hm J w Hv
hp
T T

In MD process, the mass transport is usually described by assuming a linear relationship between the mass ux (Jw) and the water
vapor pressure difference through the membrane distillation coefcient (Bm) [22]:

Fig. 3. Heat and mass transfer in DCMD.

Qm

mp

Bm



2 r 8M 1=2
3 RT

13

Where , , r, are the porosity, pore tortuosity, pore radius and

thickness of the hydrophobic membrane, respectively; M is the molecular weight of water, R is the gas constant and T is the absolute
temperature. The pore tortuosity is usually in the range of 12. However, it cannot be measured experimentally directly. It is possible to
evaluate the effective porosity per effective unit length of the

M.R. Qtaishat, F. Banat / Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

membrane (/) by performing the gas permeation test that is detailed elsewhere [9].
In MD process, air is always entrapped within the membrane
pores with pressure values close to the atmospheric pressure. Therefore, if Kn b 0.01 (i.e. r > 50 ), molecular diffusion is used to describe
the mass transport in continuum region caused by the virtually stagnant air trapped within each membrane pore due to the low solubility
of air in water. In this case the following relationship can be used for
the net DCMD membrane permeability.
D

Bm

PD M
P a RT

14

Where Pa is the air pressure (assumed to be 1 atm), P is the total

pressure inside the pore assumed constant and equal to the sum of
the partial pressures of air and water liquid, and D is the water diffusion coefcient. The value of PD (Pa m 2/s) for waterair can be calculated from the following expression [9,22].
5 2:072

PD 1:89510

15

Finally, in the transition region, 0.01 b Kn b 1 (i.e. 0.5 b r b 50),

the molecules of water liquid collide with each other and diffuse
among the air molecules. In this case, the mass transport takes
place via the combined Knudsen/ordinary-diffusion mechanism
and the following equation is used to determine the water liquid
permeability [22].
C

Bm




1
3 RT 1=2 P a RT

2 r 8M
PD M

16

4. Solar collecting technologies coupled with membrane

distillation

191

determined by their material properties. All cell materials lose efciency as the operating temperature rises. The high temperature has
negative effect on the electrical output of the PV module, especially
the dominant crystalline Si based cells, where their conversion efciency degrades by about 0.40.5% per degree rise in temperature
[25]. Tan et al. [26] performed high temperaturehumidity tests on
performance degradation of PV cells. It was found that the degradation is directly related to the passivation integrity, and the inception
of moisture causes a signicant degradation in the short circuit current and maximum power output.
The tracking at PV system is one of the methods to increase the
PV power generation. The increase of solar energy capture due to
sun tracking is region by region depending on the local meteorological conditions. Abu-Khader et al. [27] performed an experimental investigation on the effect of using two-axis sun-tracking systems on
the electrical generation of a at photovoltaic system to evaluate its
performance under Jordanian climate. It was experimentally found
that there was an increase of about 3045% in the output power for
the NorthSouth axes-tracking system compared to the xed one.
PV electricity generation costs currently lies between 0.24 and
$0.72/kWh, according to the system type and the solar irradiation.
Such costs are expected to descend to the $0.130.31/kWh range
[29].
Power conditioning equipment (e.g. charge controller, inverters)
and energy storage batteries may be required to supply energy to a
desalination plant. Charge controllers are used for the protection of
the battery from overcharging. Inverters are used to convert the direct current from the photovoltaic module system to alternating current. The electricity produced can be used to power pumps for
desalination, mostly for membrane technologies. The photovoltaic
technology connected to a reverse osmosis (RO) system is commercial nowadays. However, the high cost of PV cells is still one of the
major challenges facing the widespread use of this technology.
4.2. Solar thermal

Solar collectors can be used to provide the heat (Solar Thermal) or

electrical energy (Solar Photovoltaic) requirements to operate a
membrane distillation system. The main solar technologies that
could be coupled with membrane distillation are briey reviewed
below.
4.1. Solar photovoltaic
Photovoltaic (PV) cells are key components of PV applications that
convert solar energy into electricity through the transfer of electrons.
PV can be thought as a direct current (DC) generator powered by the
sun. At present, there are three generations of PV cells: crystalline silicon (c-Si) technologies (1st generation), amorphous silicon thin-lm
(TF) technologies (2nd generation) and Nano-PV technologies (3rd
generation). Crystalline silicon are mature and reliable technologies
currently dominating the PV market (about 82% of global cell production in 2009) [23]. The conversion efciency of c-Si lies between 15%
and 18% [24]. The TF technologies are currently the main alternative
to c-Si (17% market share in 2009) [23]. In addition, thin lm (TF)
PV technologies are presently the lowest-cost to manufacture. The
production cost of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin lm module is currently the least; $0.76/Wp [23]. However, scarcity of key component
materials has been highlighted as a potential barrier to both large
scale deployment and reductions in TF technology cost. In particular,
major concerns have been raised for indium and tellurium availability
and potential risks for the TF PV technologies that utilize them, i.e.
cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium (di) selenide
(CIGS) [28].
The photovoltaic cell photo current is directly proportional to the
solar intensity. The performance of the solar cell depends on the cell
temperature. Solar cells work best at low temperatures, as

Solar collectors are well-known devices which are usually used to

absorb and transfer solar energy into a collection uid. The thermal
energy can be achieved in solar stills, collectors, or solar ponds.
Solar collectors are usually classied according to the temperature
level reached by the thermal uid in the collectors (Table 3) [29].
Low temperature collectors are those operating in the range below
80 C while medium temperature collectors are those operating in
the range from 80 to 250 C. Low temperature collectors provide
low-grade heat that is not useful to serve as a heat source for conventional desalination distillation processes but is of interest for membrane distillation process. Medium temperature collectors can be
used to provide heat for thermal desalination processes by indirect
heating with a heat exchanger. Evacuated tube collectors produce
temperatures of up to 200 C and thus can be used as an energy
source for thermal desalination processes [30].
High temperature collectors such as parabolic troughs or dishes or
central receiver systems can concentrate the incoming solar radiation
onto a focal point, from which a receiver collects the energy using a
heat transfer uid. The high thermal energy content can be used directly in thermal desalination processes or can be used to generate
electricity using a steam turbine. Sun tracking can improve the collector efciency. Large-scale desalination applications require large collector areas.
A solar pond is a body of liquid which collects solar energy by absorbing direct and diffuse sunlight and stores it as a heat. Salt gradient
solar ponds (SGSP) rely on a salt solution (the salts most commonly
used are NaCl and MgCl2) of increasing concentration with depth to
suppress natural convection. Warm concentrated brine at the bottom
of the pond is prevented from rising to the surface and losing its heat
because the upper portion of the pond contains less salt and is,

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M.R. Qtaishat, F. Banat / Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

Table 3
Solar energy collectors [29].
Collector type

Concentration
ratio

Solar pond
Flat plate (FPC)
Improved at plate (IFPC)
Evacuated tube (ETC)
Compound Parabolic
Collectors (CPC)
Parabolic trough (PTC)
Linear Fresnel (LFC)
Parabolic dish reector (PDR)
Central receiver

1
1
1
1
15
1540
1540
1001000
1001500

Typical temperature
range (C)
50100
3080
80120
50190
70240
70400
70290
70930
1302700

Tracking
No
No
No
No
No
Single axis
Single axis
Two axes
Two axes

Palenzuela et al. [32] considered the combination of desalination

technology into concentrating solar power (CSP) plants for the
planned installation of CSP plants in arid regions. The authors presented a thermodynamic evaluation of different congurations for
coupling parabolic-trough (PT) solar power plants and desalination
facilities in Abu Dhabi as a case for dry locations in the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA) region.
Since solar insolation is intermittent, a thermal energy storage system should be incorporated to run the desalination process round the
clock. One of the solutions to utilize uctuating solar energy on a continuous basis is to incorporate thermal energy storage (TES) system.
Three types of TES systems are in commercial use; (1) sensible heat
storage, (2) latent heat storage, and (3) thermo chemical storage systems. The most widely used TES is the sensible heat storage system [33].
4.3. Performance parameters in SPMD

therefore, less dense than the lower portion. Whereas the top temperature is close to ambient, a temperature of 90 C can be reached
at the bottom of the pond where the salt concentration is highest. A
typical prole of density and temperature within a solar pond is
shown in Fig. 4. Heat is extracted by passing the brine from the storage zone through an external heat exchanger. This heat can be used in
a special organic-uid turbine to generate electricity, provide energy
for desalination, and to supply energy for space heating in buildings.
Solar ponds have large storage capacity allowing seasonal as well as
diurnal thermal energy storage. The annual collection efciency of
useful heat for desalination is around1015%. Larger ponds tend to
be more efcient than smaller ones due to losses at the pond edge.
Solar ponds are particularly suitable for desalination plants as waste
brine from desalination can be used as the salt source for the solar
pond density gradient. Using desalination brine for solar ponds not
only provides a preferable alternative to environmental disposal,
but also a convenient and inexpensive source of solar pond salinity.
Gracia-Roderiquez (2002) [21] reported that solar pond-powered desalination is one of the most cost-effective methods.
Many projects are currently under preparation to make possible
large concentrating solar power (CSP) plant developments in arid regions, such as the Shams 1 solar power station initiative. The Shams 1
CSP will feature 768 parabolic trough collectors over 6,300,000 ft 2 of
land. Shams 1's parabolic trough collectors collect sunlight and convert it into thermal energy. The Shams solar power station is being
built in the city of Madinat Zayed, located 120 km south west of
Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Construction of
phase 1 of the solar project, Shams 1, commenced in July 2010 and
is expected to be completed by 2012. Upon completion, Shams 1
will be the rst solar farm in the Middle East and the largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the world. The project is estimated
to cost $600 m [31].

Fig. 4. Typical salt gradient solar pond.

The gained output ratio (GOR) and the thermal recovery ratio
(TRR) of the system are the most important performance parameters
used in thermal desalination processes as well as in solar powered
membrane distillation processes. The GOR is the ratio of thermal energy required to produce distillate water to the actual thermal energy
consumed in the feed side. Mathematically, the GOR is calculated
from:

GOR

md H v
mh CpT hi T ho

17

where md is the distillate ow rate (kg/h), the latent heat of vaporization (J/kg), mh the feed ow rate (kg/h), Cp the feed specic heat
(J/kg K), Thi, Tho the feed temperatures (in K) at the module inlet
and outlet.
The TRR is the theoretical energy needed for distillate produced
divided by the total thermal energy input. In the SPMD, the total thermal energy input is the solar energy incident on the solar collector. As
such, the TRR can be dened as:

TRR

md Hv
AI

18

where A is the solar collector area (m 2), and I is the global irradiation
(W/m 2). The TRR of a SPMD plant is measure of its efciency to produce distillate.
5. Coupling membrane distillation with solar energy collectors
Coupling membrane distillation modules with solar energy collectors has been of interest for many researchers over the world because
MD can tolerate uctuating and intermittent operating conditions as
well as it requires low grade thermal energy. Two alternative congurations of coupling solar energy with MD are illustrated in Fig. 5.
The solar-assisted MD desalination system (Fig. 5a) comprises solar
thermal collectors which feeds hot water to the MD module. The
heat is supplied to the MD module either directly or through a heat
exchanger. Electricity needed is either supplied from the electric
grid or from an auxiliary diesel generator to drive all pumps and
other electrically powered devices. The solar stand-alone MD desalination system (Fig. 5b) is similar to the solar-assisted MD desalination system in all aspects except that solar powered PV collectors
integrated with direct current (DC) battery cells and electric current
inverters are used instead of the diesel generator to supply the necessary electricity. Membrane distillation modules were coupled with
at plate collectors, vacuum collectors, solar ponds, solar stills, and
parabolic troughs as detailed below.

M.R. Qtaishat, F. Banat / Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

5.1. Coupling with vacuum or at plate collectors

The rst publication in this eld came from Australia where Hogan
et al. [34] from the University of New South Wales described a
0.05 m 3/day system using a 3 m 2 at plate solar collectors. Hollow
ber membrane distillation module with heat recovery was used
in their study. The authors reported that the thermal and electrical
energy consumption was 55.6 kWh/m3. The calculated ux of 17 liters per day per square meter of collector area was comparable to
that reported for solar MSF and ME plants.
As reported by Thomas [35] a solar-powered membrane distillation system was installed by the Water Re-use Promotion Center in
Tokyo, Japan, in 1994. Flat plate module and a 12 m 2 eld of vacuum
tube collectors were used. Automatic controls start up the desalination system whenever sufcient sunlight is present to provide hot
water and electricity for pumping from the solar collectors and PV
panels. The plant had a maximum productivity of 40 liters per hour.
Four autonomous solar-powered membrane distillation plants
were developed through SMADES EU-funded project [36]. First a
so-called compact system was designed and tested to generate
process parameters for the design of the so-called large system.
Three compact systems were installed in Jordan, Morocco, and
Egypt. The compact system is simple one loop desalination designed
to produce about 100 l of distilled water per day. As such, no thermal
heat storage tanks, no electrical storage (battery), no complex but a
simple and reliable control was needed. The main components of the
system are: two at-plate solar collectors with a corrosion-free absorber that can directly be used to heat up the salty water, one spiral
wound membrane distillation module with heat recovery, feed
pumps, PV module with a DC/AC converter, and feed and distillate
storage tanks (Fig. 6). One of the compact units was installed in
the city of Irbid in northern Jordan in August 2005 and fed with
brackish water [37,38]. The key design data of the compact system

193

are listed in Table 4. The distillate ow rate was about 120 liters
per day during the summer months, and about 50 liters per day during the cloudy winter days. The distillate conductivity was less than
600 S/cm.
The large system was installed in the city of Aqaba on the Red Sea
coast and fed with untreated seawater in February 2006 [37,38]. The
system consists of two loops. The desalination loop is operated with
seawater and is separated from the collector loop (operated with
tap water) by a titanium corrosion resistant heat exchanger. This
arrangement allows for the use of economic standard components
in the solar collector without the need of cost-intensive corrosion
resistant materials. Four spiral wound membrane distillation modules
exactly the same as those used in the compact systems were operated
in parallel. A schematic of the setup is shown in Fig. 7. The design
capacity of the Aqaba system was 1 m 3/day. The key design data of
this system are listed in Table 5.
A DC/AC converter was used to convert 24 VDC delivered from the
batteries into 230 V AC. The capacity of the battery storage was
300 Ah. A thermal heat storage vessel was used to store the surplus
energy in order to be used whenever sufcient solar radiation is not
available. Due to natural uctuations of solar radiation and temperature, the water production rate and energy requirements uctuated
between 600 and 800 liter per day and 200 and 250 kWh/m 3,
respectively.
During the rst month of operation (February 2006), the quality of
produced distillate was very good with a conductivity of less than
10 S/cm. In March 2006, an increase in the distillate conductivity
was noticed. After a thorough evaluation, it was decided to remove
the deteriorated module and to operate the system with three membrane modules instead of four. The ux obtained varied between 2
and 11 liters per day per meter squared of collector area.
Experimental results from the large system showed a gradual decline of the permeate ux and quality during the rst ve months of
operation. Heating of seawater to temperatures up to 80 C caused
scale deposit on the membrane surface. Cleaning the membrane
with dilute formic acid resulted in the dissolution of the deposit on
the membrane surface, and the initial membrane permeability was
restored [39]. Nevertheless, the information related to the membrane
durability in membrane distillation (MD) is still immature. It is documented that the membrane wetting and the scale deposition on the
membrane surface are the most serious problems that make the
membrane unworkable in MD [4]. However, there are many membrane designers considered designing the membranes to avoid or
minimize those drawback effects. Their results were very promising
[1321].
Wang et al. [40] has recently described the performance of a
solar-heated hollow ber vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) system for potable water production from underground water. The

Solar
irradiation

Solar
collector

Feed
tank

MD
module

Feed
pump
PV
PV module
Fig. 5. Solar-assisted (a) and stand-alone (b) desalination systems.

Over flow

Background
container

Distillate
Refilling pump

Fig. 6. Schematic drawing of the compact system (one loop desalination system).

194

M.R. Qtaishat, F. Banat / Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

Table 4
Specications of the compact system.

Table 5
Specications of the large unit.

Plant capacity (Average)

Membrane area
Solar collectors area
PV-module

Compact system

Design capacity (m3/day)

100 l/day
10 m2
5.73 m2
106 Wp

Collector area (m2)

Collector type
Heat storage capacity (m3)
Number of membrane modules
PV (kWp)
PV area (m2)

72
Flat plate
3
4
1.44
14

system has four major components, a solar energy collector, a hollow

ber membrane module, a permeation condenser and two mechanical pumps (Fig. 8). The area of the solar energy collector is 8 m 2 and
the membrane total area is about 0.09 m 2. The membrane is 0.1 m
hollow ber membrane made from polypropylene, with the inner
diameter 371 mm, wall thickness 35 mm, and ber operative length
0.14 m. The experiment results showed that the pure water ux of
the system could reach 32.2 kg per hour per square meter membrane area.
The performance of a desalination plant based on coupling an airgap membrane distillation module with a solar pond was tested by
Walton et al. [41]. Low grade thermal energy (between 13 and
75 C) was extracted from the pond and supplied via a heat exchanger
to the membrane module. The membrane area was 2.94 m 2. The
Swedish rm SCARAB (http://www.hvr.se) has built and supplied
the membrane distillation module in addition to the controlling
pumps and heaters.
As shown in Fig. 9, hot brine was pumped from the bottom of the
solar pond and circulated through a heat exchanger to supply heat to
the saline solution. Cold water from the solar pond surface was
passed through another heat exchanger to provide cooling. High
and low temperatures for system operation were obtained by changing
the ow rates for solar pond hot and cold water.
The research included measuring the ux per unit area of membrane surface and conductivity of permeate over a range of feed
water salinities and temperature as well as an assessment of membrane fouling. The permeate ux was uctuating and reached a maximum of 6 L/m 2.h.
Theoretical calculations, based upon measured results, indicate
that membrane distillation with latent heat recovery is necessary to
make the process being competitive with other thermal technologies
in terms of energy use. Walton et al. (2004) [41] reported that membrane distillation is only competitive relative to reverse osmosis
when low cost heat energy is available and/or when the water

chemistry of the source water is too difcult for treatment with reverse osmosis.
Suareza et al. [42] developed a heat and mass transport model to
evaluate the feasibility of coupling a DCMD module with an SGSP
for sustainable freshwater production in an environment such as
that at Walker Lake. They reported that the coupled DCMD/SGSP
system is capable of providing freshwater for terminal lakes reclamation. The coupled system shown in Fig. 10 was found to produce
water ows on the order of 1.6 10 3 m 3 per day per m 2 of SGSP
with membrane areas ranging from 1.0 to 1.3 10 3 m 2 per m 2 of
SGSP.
Mericqa et al. [43] has studied the simulation of coupling VMD
with solar energy to produce distillate from seawater. For this purpose solar collectors (SC) as well as salt gradient solar ponds (SGSP)
were considered. Simulation results showed that VMD/SGSP could
induce marked concentration and temperature polarization phenomena that reduced uxes because of the difculty to create turbulence
in the feed seawater when SGSP are used. Using the combination of
VMD/SC was more practical, as they concluded.
5.2. Coupling with parabolic trough collectors
Within the frame of MEDESOL (Seawater Desalination by Innovative Solar-Powered Membrane Distillation System) project the technical feasibility of producing fresh water from seawater by
integrating several MD modules (a multi-stage MD system) for a capacity range 0.550 m 3/d will be evaluated. The heat source of the
process will be from an advanced compound parabolic solar concentrator, especially developed to achieve the specic needed range of
temperatures. The seawater heater will include the development of
an advanced non-fouling surface coating, as reported by Glvez et
al. (2009) [44].

Solar
irradiation

Brine

Collector
feild
Feed
pump

Storage
tank
Heat
exchanger
Distillate

MD modules

Battery

Expansion
vessel
Control
unit

DC
AC

PV

PV
PV array

Fig. 7. Schematic drawing of the large system (two loop desalination system).

M.R. Qtaishat, F. Banat / Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

195

Fig. 8. Flow sheet of the solar-heated MD system for producing potable water.

5.3. Coupling with solar stills

Banat et al. [45] described a solar still-membrane distillation integrated system operated with articial seawater. Hot water from the
still was circulated into a tubular membrane distillation module before being returned back to the still. As such, distilled water was produced from both the solar still and the membrane distillation module.
The ux of the MD module was four times higher than the ux
obtained from the solar still.
6. Availability and cost
Solar energy can be harnessed for MD desalination by producing
the thermal energy required to drive the evaporation and by producing the electricity required to drive the pumps. The main energy requirement for membrane distillation is thermal energy. Electricity
demand is low and is used for auxiliary services such as pumps, sensors, controllers etc However, the high cost of PV modules and to
less extent the high cost of solar collectors hinders the use of solar energy on wide scale. Capital costs of MD modules and corrosion resistant heat exchangers are important also. At present, no commercial
MD modules are available and researchers either use modules

designed for other membrane separations or design and build their

specic modules. Therefore, it is difcult to conclude if the SPMD process is really competitive with other solar driven conventional desalination processes.
Very few studies on the cost of solar powered MD desalination
plants have been reported in literature. Kullab and Martin [46] have
presented the cost for a scaled-up solar powered air gap membrane
distillation. Evacuated tube solar collectors were used to supply the
thermal energy. For a yearly production of 24,000 m 3 of pure water,
the cost of water production was estimated at 8.9 $/m 3. Around 70%
of this cost was associated with the solar collectors. Banat and Jwaied
[47] estimated the cost of potable water produced by the stand-alone
compact unit to be 15 $/m 3 and 18 $/m 3 for water produced by the
large unit. The authors pointed out that membrane lifetime and
plant lifetime are key factors in determining the water production
cost. The cost decreases with increasing the membrane and/or plant
lifetime.
Integrating solar power and membrane distillation desalination
plants is not yet a straightforward issue and many technological aspects remain to be discussed. Large seawater SPMD desalination
plants need, obviously, facilities to be located near the sea, where
land cost and availability could be a signicant problem. Furthermore,

Fig. 9. Flow schematic of SPMD [41].

196

M.R. Qtaishat, F. Banat / Desalination 308 (2013) 186197

Fig. 10. Coupling of the DCMD module to the SGSP [42].

the solar direct normal irradiance (DNI) is normally lower on areas

close to the sea, which makes concentrating solar power (CSP) plants
most optimal locations to be separated from the coast. Other thermal
desalination technologies such as MED or MSF could also be coupled
with membrane distillation to minimize the production cost. To answer all of these issues, techno-economic analysis is needed to dene
the best schemes of the integration of a membrane distillation with
solar energy.
7. Summary
Several small and lab scale plants for MD desalination using solar
energy have recently been tested. The process is deemed suitable to
operate in conjunction with solar energy for small capacities. The
main cost is in the initial investment. However, once the system is operational, it is extremely inexpensive to maintain and the energy has
minimal or even no cost. The availability and cost of MD modules is
still a serious and important issue. People not only in remote regions
but also in urban areas will benet if low cost stand-alone MD
systems are developed commercially.
Nomenclature
Symbols
A
Solar collector area (m 2)
Bm
net DCMD permeability (s/m)
d
mean pore size (nm)
D
water diffusion coefcient (m 2 s 1)
EE
evaporation efciency
f
the friction factor
GOR
The gained output ratio
h
heat transfer coefcient (W m 2 K 1)
H
Enthalpy (J/kg)
I
Global irradiation (W/m 2)
Jw
DCMD ux (m/s)
k
thermal conductivity (w m 1 K 1)
Kn
Knudsen number
Nu
Nusselt number
M
molecular weight of water (kg mol 1)
md
Distillate ow rate (kg/h)
mh
Feed ow rate (kg/h)
p
liquid pressure (Pa)
Pv
vapor pressure of water (Pa)
P
total pressure (Pa)
Pa
air pressure (Pa)
Pr
Prandtl number
Q
heat ux (W m 2)
T
absolute temperature (K)
TPC
Temperature polarization coefcient
TRR
The thermal recovery ratio
r
mean pore radius (nm)
R
gas constant (J mol 1 K 1)

Re
xi

Reynolds number
solute mole fraction

Greek letters

total membrane thickness (m)

porosity (%)

Density (kg/m 3)

mean free path (nm)

water dynamic viscosity (kg m 1 s 1)

tortousity
Hv
latent heat of vaporization (kJ/mol)

Superscripts
K
Knudsen
D
molecular-diffusion
C
combined Knudsen/ordinary-diffusion
s
aqueous NaCl solution

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