Abstract
Membrane distillation (MD) is an emerging technology for separations that are traditionally accomplished by conventional separation processes such as distillation or reverse osmosis. Since its appearance in the late of the 1960s and its development in the early of 1980s with the growth of membrane engineering, MD claims to be a cost effective separation process that can utilize low-grade waste and/or alternative energy sources such as solar and geothermal energy. As an attractive separation process, MD has been the subject of worldwide academic studies by many experimentalist and theoreticians. Unfortunately from the commercial stand point, MD has gained only little acceptance and yet to be implemented in industry. The major barriers include MD membrane and module design, membrane pore wetting, low permeate flow rate and flux decay as well as uncertain energetic and economic costs. This study is … A framework for better understanding........