Parametric investigation of a vacuum membrane distillation system driven by mechanical vapor recompression

This paper focused on employing a vacuum membrane distillation system (VMD) driven by mechanical vapor recompression to achieve the sulfuric acid waste recovery. After establishing the mathematical models with the thermodynamic first and second laws considered simultaneously, the effects of critical parameters on the mass and heat transfer processes were first investigated. Furthermore, the effects of membrane area on thermodynamic characteristic of the system were explored. The simulation results showed that decreasing feed concentration or increasing feed temperature, feed velocity and permeate side pressure could strengthen heat and mass transfer process. Furthermore, increasing membrane area caused the total power consumption to exhibit a decline first followed by a rise and the exergy efficiency to exhibit a first rise followed by a decline. There was an optimal membrane area of 60 m(2) that minimized the total power to 10.04 kW and maximized the exergy efficiency to 19.06% at a feed concentration of 5%, feed temperature of 358.15 K, feed velocity of 1.0 m center dot s(-1) and evaporation rate of 200 kg center dot h(-1). The research results provide reference and technical support for the treatment of industrial waste acid.