Characterisation of the polarisations in osmotic distillation of glucose solutions in hollow fibre module Original Research Article

This paper quantifies the characteristics of concentration and temperature polarisations in osmotic distillation of glucose solutions in hollow fibre module using PVDF fibres, being PV375 and PV660 for low and high feed concentration range respectively. Concentration polarisation on the brine side was found to be more severe than on the feed side with concentration differences being up to 3.17% on the brine side and 1.43% on the feed side. Temperature polarisation, however, was more intensive on the brine side for lower feed concentration range, but less intensive when dealing with higher feed concentration. Under the reported experimental conditions, the temperature differences across the membrane were up to 1.53 °C in module PV375, and 1.33 °C in module PV660. Overall, concentration and temperature polarisations were found to contribute up to 18% to OD flux reduction.