Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) opportunities applied to the membrane distillation process: State-of-the-art and perspectives

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Generally speaking, it should be noted that CFD-based models are very qualitative. Actually, in practice the selection of the best case, i.e. the specific microstructure for membrane or spacer geometry and the module geometry includes a trade-off between the costs of membranes needed to produce the required production and costs of the energy source. It is not only the cost of the applied membrane; with it comes a number of MD modules, piping, fittings, pumps, compressor and vacuum pumps, and etc. Most of works on CFD approaches have been investigated the DCMD process through modeling the hydrodynamics conditions and heat transfer. However, a combination of these items with mass transfer shall be studied more extensively and comprehensively. Furthermore, other MD configurations, especially the SGMD and AGMD, need to be further investigated, in the case of their various aspects, e.g. the distillate side and proposed boundary layer conditions, as well. Further to many advantages and opportunities of CFD for modeling MD processes, there are some critical concerns which shall be investigated in future works.