Volume 21, Issue 55, January - June, 2024

Thin film theory and boundary layer theory, an approach for analysing heat and mass transfer in spacer-filled Direct Contact Membrane Distillation

Quoc Linh Ve^1♦, Minh Cuong Do¹, Thanh Cuong Nguyen¹, Quoc Huy Nguyen¹, Quang Lich Nguyen², Farzaneh Mahmoudi³

¹Faculty of Engineering and Food Technology, University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University, Thua Thien Hue 530000, Vietnam
²School of Engineering and Technology, Hue University, Thua Thien Hue 530000, Vietnam
³The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Private Bag 10, Clayton South, VIC, 3169, Australia

^♦Corresponding author
Faculty of Engineering and Food Technology, University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University, Thua Thien Hue 530000, Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Heat and mass transfer in spacer-filled direct contact membrane distillation were experimentally investigated and explained in more detail based on the combination of the thin film theory and boundary layer theory. Experimental results were used to calculate mass transfer coefficient through the boundary layer instead of existing Sherwood number correlations or modeling results. Consequently, the change of direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) performance in terms of mass fluxes, temperature polarization coefficient (TPC), and concentration polarization coefficient (CPC) could be analyzed more clearly through the fluctuation of mass transfer coefficient through the boundary layer, and boundary layer thickness. Moreover, the results also revealed that the effect of membrane pore size on the mass transfer coefficient through the boundary layer, boundary layer thickness, and internal heat transfer coefficient was insignificant. In contrast, membrane pore size considerably influenced the membrane permeability coefficient, TPC, and CPC.

Keywords: Direct contact membrane distillation, thin film theory, boundary layer theory, heat transfer, mass transfer

Indian Journal of Engineering, 2024, 21(55), e4ije1679

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v21i55.e4ije1679

Published: 23 April 2024