Use of solar energy for desalination by membrane distillation installation equipped with helically coiled fibers

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of solar irradiation on the permeate flow rate produced by vacuum membrane distillation installation. The used membrane module, in our case, is composed of two hollow fibers membrane wound in helically coiled shape. These fibers were placed in parabolic through concentrator absorber. The relatively hot solution (brine) in the absorber was used as a feed for our fibers. After the establishment of the model governing equations, a resolution was done with the finite element method. The sensitivity of the permeate flow rate to the solar irradiation and feed salt concentration were all investigated. According to the results, when the solar irradiation growth from 200 to 800 W/m², the permeate flow rate roses from 0.1377 to 0.3633 kg/h. In the case of a solar irradiation of 800 W/m², a marginal effect of the feed salt concentration on the permeate flow rate was remarked. For the evolution of the feed salt concentration between 10 and 300 g/l, a drop by 12% of the permeate flux was reported.