ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Removal of copper sulfate from aqueous solution by air-gap membrane distillation process

Chao-Huan Yang, Ya-Jing Zhao, Lan Cheng, Ping-Li Li, Ying-Dong Li, and He-Ying Chang

Tianjin University, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China

E-mail: lipingli@tju.edu.cn

Abstract: The potential use of air-gap membrane distillation (AGMD) process for the removal of copper sulfate (CuSO₄) from aqueous solution was examined. A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of both operation parameters and module parameters, including hot feed temperature(T₃), coolant temperature (T₁), feed flow rate (F), feed salt concentration (c_f), vacuum pressure (P), the rate of hollow fiber membranes and heat-exchange hollow fibers (N_m/N_d) and the length of the modules (L) on permeate water flux (J), gained output ratio (GOR), water productivity (P_V), and salt rejection rate (R) in AGMD process. It was found that the performance of AGMD process could be enhanced, but permeate water quality was deteriorated by adding vacuum pressure. Moreover, J declined, but P_V and GOR increased as L increased. With the increment of N_m/N_d, J decreased when operation parameters keep constant, P_V and GOR showed different variation trends with different T₁ values due to the insufficient cold energy. The highest CuSO₄ rejection rate exceeded 99.95%, so AGMD process has potential for CuSO₄ separation from aqueous solution.

Keywords: Hollow fiber membrane module ; Air-gap membrane distillation ; Copper sulfate ; Module parameters 

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-018-0611-7

Chemical Papers 73 (3) 543–554 (2019)