Freshwater production characteristics of vacuum membrane distillation module for seawater desalination using a solar thermal system by seawater feed conditions

In this study, the thermal performance experiment was conducted by seawater feed conditions of the VMD module prior to building the VMD module to be used in pilot plants in the capacity of 10m(3)/d for seawater desalination using the solar thermal system. For the thermal performance experiment of the VMD module, the lab-scale desalination equipment was designed and made in the capacity of 1m(3)/d and it was used to analyze changes in freshwater production by feedwater salinity, flow rate, and temperature conditions of the VMD module. By the result, it was analyzed that the VMD module used in this study required an average of 580kWh/d heat capacity to produce 1m(3)/d of freshwater.