US 11,992,808 B2
Membrane distillation module and multi-effect process
Noreddine Ghaffour, Thuwal (SA); Ahmad S. Alsaadi, Thuwal (SA); and Lijo Francis, Thuwal (SA)
Assigned to KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, (SA)
Appl. No. 17/260,661
Filed by KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Thuwal (SA)
PCT Filed Jul. 23, 2018, PCT No. PCT/IB2018/055477
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 15, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/021303, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 30, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0260532 A1, Aug. 26, 2021
Int. Cl. B01D 61/36 (2006.01)
CPC B01D 61/364 (2013.01) [B01D 61/366 (2013.01); B01D 2313/221 (2022.08); B01D 2317/025 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A membrane distillation module comprising:
a housing having first and second adjacent chambers, with no liquid communication between the first and second chambers, the first chamber having a hot inlet for receiving a hot feed and a hot outlet for expelling the hot feed, and the second chamber is configured to collect a distillate formed on a non-porous conduit;
a porous membrane located inside the housing and having an outside surface that defines an enclosure, the outside surface being configured to contact the hot feed, wherein the porous membrane is configured to prevent the hot feed from passing from outside the porous membrane to an inside of the enclosure; and
the non-porous conduit located inside the enclosure, the non-porous conduit having a side surface, an inlet for receiving a cold feed and an outlet for expelling the cold feed, the inlet and the outlet being located outside the first chamber,
wherein an entirety of the side surface of the non-porous conduit is separated from the porous membrane by an air gap, and
wherein each of the porous membrane and the non-porous conduit partially extends within the first chamber and partially extends within the second chamber.