Dr. Wen Zhang and Dr. Kamalesh K. Sirkar, along with their research team (e.g., Fangzhou Liu, Dr. Weihua Qing, Dr. John Chau, Dr. Qingquan Ma, and Guangyu Zhu) at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), have published a groundbreaking study in Desalination on an innovative air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) module that significantly enhances water treatment performance.
The study introduces a novel two-hollow-fiber-set membrane module, where a poly(etheretherketone) (PEEK) hollow fiber membrane (HFM) is placed inside a hydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) HFM, creating an ultra-thin air gap of just 121 μm. This design achieves high thermal efficiency and improved water vapor flux, reaching 9.05 kg/m²∙h under optimal conditions (85°C brine, 5°C coolant).
Key contributions of the study include:
✅ High packing density of 1297 m²/m³, enabling efficient mass transfer
✅ 98.7% salt rejection, ensuring desalination effectiveness
✅ Finite element analysis using COMSOL Multiphysics to predict water flux and temperature profiles
✅ Principal component analysis (PCA) to assess performance factors, highlighting the critical role of air gap thickness in temperature polarization
This innovative approach could lead to more efficient and scalable membrane distillation systems for water purification, desalination, and resource recovery.
📖 Read the full paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2025.118683
🔬 #MembraneDistillation #WaterTreatment #Nanotechnology #NJIT #SustainableEngineering
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