Simulation of Evaporation through Hydrophobic Metallic Membranes

Performance of membrane evaporation process carried out in a flat-sheet membrane contactor is studied in this work. A three-dimensional (3D) mathematical model isdeveloped to predict the performance of ME process. The model is based on solving the continuity, momentum equations as well as energy equation for water in the membranecontactor. The model’s equations are numerically solved using finite element method (FEM) to obtain the concentration andtemperature distribution of water in the contactor. By obtaining the concentration distribution, the flux of water evaporation was determined and compared with the experimental data reported in literature. The model findings were in good agreement with the experimental data fordifferent air velocities. The simulation results showed that increasing the gas velocity would be a favorable parameter in the membrane evaporation process because it holds the process far from the thermodynamic equilibrium. It was also indicated that the proposed 3D model is an appropriate tool for the prediction of membrane evaporator performance.