Mass transfer in osmotic membrane distillation

Osmotic membrane distillation is a novel athermal membrane process that facilitates the maximum concentration of liquid foods under mild operating conditions. In the present study, the effect of various process parameters such as type, concentration and flow rate of the osmotic agent; type (polypropylene membranes) and pore size (0.05 and 0.2 μm) of the membrane; temperature with respect to transmembrane flux was studied. Experiments were performed with real systems (pineapple/sweet lime juice) in a flat membrane module. Osmotic agents namely sodium chloride and calcium chloride at varying concentrations are employed. For both the osmotic agents, higher transmembrane flux was observed at maximum osmotic agent concentration. In comparison with sodium chloride, higher transmembrane flux was observed in case of calcium chloride. A mass transfer-in-series resistance model has been employed, considering the resistance offered by the membrane as well the boundary layers (feed and brine sides) in case of real systems for the first time. The model could predict the variation of transmembrane flux with respect to different process parameters.