1. Title, Journal and Authors
Title: Quantifying the potential of ultra-permeable membranes for water desalination
Journal: Energy & Environmental Science
Authors: David Cohen-Tanugi,a Ronan K. McGovern,b Shreya H. Dave,b John H. Lienhardb and Jeffrey C. Grossman*a
aDepartment of Materials Science & Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA 02139, USA.
bDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA 02139, USA.
2. Summary
David Cohene-Tanugi et al. quantify the potential of ultra-permeable membrane for water desalination using computer simulation. They modeled the mass transport and fluid dynamics of an RO system. They simulated RO system with increasing membrane permeability. Simulation results show that tripling water permeability Am from 1 to 3 LMH, could reduce energy consumption of SWRO by 15% and of BWRO by 46%. Also, it could reduce the number of pressure vessels of SWRO by 40% and of BWRO by 63%. However, further increase in permeability beyond 3 LMH could only reduce 1% of energy consumption. They gave answer for the question that higher permeability can reduce cost in reverse osmosis. Although permeability beyond certain range could not reduce energy consumption, it could decrease the number of pressure vessels.
3. Originality & Creativity
- Effect of higher permeability on cost of reverse osmosis is evaluated.
- Limitation of the development of membrane technology is mentioned.
4. Application to research
- Reduction of energy consumption in reverse osmosis is main objective of research. By knowing the limitation of the development of membrane technology, we could decide the research direction.
5. Contact
SeungJi Lim (Integrated Ph.D. program)
Environmental Systems Engineering Lab.
School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Engineering
Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology
1 Oryong-dong Buk-gu Gwangju, 500-712, Korea
Phone : +82-10-7935-8845
E-mail : fblsj90@gist.ac.kr