Boron removal from geothermal water by air gap membrane distillation

Bahar Ozbey-Unal, Derya Y. Imer, Bulent Keskinler, Ismail Koyuncu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

69 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this study, boron removal from geothermal water with an air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) system was examined. The utilization idea of the waste heat sources in geothermal power plants for membrane distillation process is the basis of this research. During the study, six different types of commercial membranes were used and the influence of operating parameters such as feed temperature and velocity, coolant temperature and velocity and air gap distance on the permeate flux and rejection performances were investigated. First, the operating parameters were optimized and the experiments were performed with three different saline water concentrations (0.1–1.5–3% (w/v)). Then, the effect of boron concentration on permeate flux was investigated by using a synthetic geothermal water. Finally, a real geothermal water was used for the determination of AGMD system performance and min. 99.5% boron removal efficiency was achieved for all membranes. The results showed that permeate water boron concentrations were <0.5 mg/L for all membranes which are in accordance with irrigation standards. As a result, the air gap width, feed velocity and temperature were found as dominant factors affecting the permeate flux. And also, it was observed that feed water boron concentration did not affect permeate water flux.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)141-150
Number of pages10
JournalDesalination
Volume433
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017

Funding

This study was supported by the TUBITAK, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Project No: 115Y610 ).

FundersFunder number
TUBITAK
Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştirma Kurumu115Y610

    Keywords

    • Air gap membrane distillation (AGMD)
    • Boron removal
    • Geothermal waters
    • Membrane distillation

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