Isothermal Membrane Distillation (IMD)

Two methods of desalinating water dominate worldwide today: 1. the thermal process, in which salt water is evaporated using heat so that it condenses as pure water. 2. reverse osmosis, which uses pressure to force the water through a membrane that retains the salt. However, both processes are very energy-intensive. In contrast, another process, membrane distillation (MD), has many advantages but has not become economically viable due to its high energy requirements. In MD, water evaporates on one side of a hydrophobic membrane and condenses on the other side. A novel process approach is isothermal membrane distillation (IMD), which has all the advantages of MD. However, since IMD has an internal heat exchange that allows high energy efficiency, it is even more competitive than the main established methods in terms of energy demand. Prof. Biollaz was significantly involved in the development of the IMD. The project now aims to demonstrate the feasibility of this invention. With the help of a demonstrator, the membrane system is to be built up, which will be designed and specified with simulations beforehand.