applied sciences Membrane Distillation Edited by Enrico Drioli Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Applied Sciences www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci Membrane Distillation Special Issue Editor Enrico Drioli MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade Special Issue Editor Enrico Drioli University of Calabria Italy Editorial Office MDPI AG St. Alban-Anlage 66 Basel, Switzerland This edition is a reprint of the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417) in 2017 (available at: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/special_issues/Membrane_Distillation). For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: Author 1; Author 2. Article title. Journal Name Year, Article number, page range. First Edition 2017 ISBN 978-3-03842-460-4 (Pbk) ISBN 978-3-03842-461-1 (PDF) Photo courtesy of Enrico Drioli Articles in this volume are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY), which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book taken as a whole is © 2017 MDPI, Basel, Switzerland, distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Table of Contents About the Special Issue Editor .................................................................................................................. v Enrico Drioli, Aamer Ali and Francesca Macedonio Membrane Operations for Process Intensification in Desalination Reprinted from: Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(1), 100; doi: 10.3390/app7010100 .................................................... 1 Minwei Yao, Yun Chul Woo, Leonard D. Tijing, Cecilia Cesarini and Ho Kyong Shon Improving Nanofiber Membrane Characteristics and Membrane Distillation Performance of Heat-Pressed Membranes via Annealing Post-Treatment Reprinted from: Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(1), 78; doi: 10.3390/app7010078 ...................................................... 15 Faisal Abdulla AlMarzooqi, Muhammad Roil Bilad and Hassan Ali Arafat Improving Liquid Entry Pressure of Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) Membranes by Exploiting the Role of Fabrication Parameters in Vapor-Induced Phase Separation VIPS and Non-Solvent- Induced Phase Separation (NIPS) Processes Reprinted from: Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(2), 181; doi: 10.3390/app7020181 .................................................... 26 Chia-Chieh Ko, Chien-Hua Chen, Yi-Rui Chen, Yu-Hsun Wu, Soon-Chien Lu, Fa-Chun Hu, Chia-Ling Li and Kuo-Lun Tung Increasing the Performance of Vacuum Membrane Distillation Using Micro-Structured Hydrophobic Aluminum Hollow Fiber Membranes Reprinted from: Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(4), 357; doi: 10.3390/app7040357 .................................................... 41 Lies Eykens, Kristien De Sitter, Chris Dotremont, Wim De Schepper, Luc Pinoy and Bart Van Der Bruggen Wetting Resistance of Commercial Membrane Distillation Membranes in Waste Streams Containing Surfactants and Oil Reprinted from: Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(2), 118; doi: 10.3390/app7020118 .................................................... 51 Daniel Woldemariam, Andrew Martin and Massimo Santarelli Exergy Analysis of Air-Gap Membrane Distillation Systems for Water Purification Applications Reprinted from: Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(3), 301; doi: 10.3390/app7030301 .................................................... 63 Mourad Laqbaqbi, Julio Antonio Sanmartino, Mohamed Khayet, Carmen García-Payo and Mehdi Chaouch Fouling in Membrane Distillation, Osmotic Distillation and Osmotic Membrane Distillation Reprinted from: Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(4), 334; doi: 10.3390/app7040334 .................................................... 74 Joanna Kujawa, Sophie Cerneaux, Wojciech Kujawski and Katarzyna Knozowska Hydrophobic Ceramic Membranes for Water Desalination Reprinted from: Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(4), 402; doi: 10.3390/app7040402 .................................................... 114 iii About the Special Issue Editor Enrico Drioli is Emeritus Professor at the School of Engineering of the University of Calabria and Founding Director of the Institute on Membrane Technology, CNR, Italy. Since 2012, he has been Distinguished Adjunct Professor at CEDT King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; since 2010, he has been WCU Distinguish Visiting Professor at the Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. His research activities focus on Membrane Science and Engineering, Membranes in Artificial Organs, Integrated Membrane Processes, Membrane Preparation and Transport Phenomena in Membranes, Membrane Distillation and Membrane Contactors, and Catalytic Membrane and Catalytic Membrane Reactors. He is involved in many International Societies, Scientific Committees, Editorial Boards, and International Advisory Boards. Currently, he is Chairman of the Section on “Membrane Engineering” of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering and coordinator of EU-EUDIME Doctorate School on Membrane Engineering. He has been coordinator of several international research projects. He is Honorary President of European Membrane Society (1999). He is the recipient of various Awards and Honours, ex. “Richard Maling Barrer Prize” of the EMS, Academician Semenov Medal of Russian Academy of Engineering Science, MIAC International Award for his contributions in the field of Membrane Science and Technologies, etc. He is author of more than 800 scientific papers, 22 patents and 24 books on Membrane Science and Technology. v applied sciences Article Membrane Operations for Process Intensification in Desalination Enrico Drioli 1,2,3,4, Aamer Ali 1,* and Francesca Macedonio 1,2,* 1 Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM-CNR), National Research Council, c/o The University of Calabria, Cubo 17C, Via Pietro Bucci, Rende 87036, Italy; [email protected] 2 Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, University of Calabria, Rende 87036, Italy 3 WCU Energy Engineering Department, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea 4 Center of Excellence in Desalination Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia * Correspondence: [email protected] (A.A.); [email protected] or [email protected] (F.M.); Tel.: +39-0984-492014 (A.A.); +39-0984-492012 (F.M.) Academic Editor: Mohamed Khayet Received: 16 December 2016; Accepted: 13 January 2017; Published: 20 January 2017 Abstract: Process intensification strategy (PIS) is emerging as an interesting guideline to revolutionize process industry in terms of improved efficiency and sustainability. Membrane engineering has appeared as a strong candidate to implement PIS. The most significant progress has been observed in desalination where substantial reduction in overall energy demand, environmental footprint, and process hazards has already been accomplished. Recent developments in membrane engineering are shaping the desalination industry into raw materials and energy production where fresh water will be produced as a byproduct. The present study discusses the current and perspective role of membrane engineering in achieving the objectives of PIS in the field of desalination. Keywords: process engineering; membrane operations; desalination; metrics 1. Introduction During the last 50 years, the world’s population has doubled and gross domestic production has increased ten folds, reflecting the underlying massive industrialization during this period. These developments have put the resources of freshwater, energy, and raw materials under ever-growing strain. Energy consumption has increased by five times during the last five decades and the majority of this energy consumption is coming from finite and polluting fossil fuels [1]. In the water sector, it has been estimated that two thirds of the world’s population might be facing insufficient access to clean freshwater by 2025 [2]. Similarly, traditional mining is facing several environmental and sustainability related concerns. The scenario places an emphasis on sustainable industrial growth across the globe that can be realized by using the material and energy resources more efficiently and by exploiting the nontraditional but sustainable resources of these commodities while, at the same time, eliminating or minimizing the environmental hazards associated with the related processes [3]. These requirements clearly point out the urgency to develop new processes capable of producing and using energy, freshwater, and raw materials more efficiently and with the potential to exploit alternative resources of these products. Lack of a precise definition of sustainable development has resulted in the evolution of specific guidelines such as the PIS to implement the concept of sustainable development. Process intensification as defined by Stankiewicz and Moulijn [3,4] is the development of novel equipment and techniques that, compared to those commonly used, dramatically improve manufacturing and processing by decreasing substantially equipment size, improving raw material to production ratio, decreasing energy consumption and waste production, and that ultimately results in cheaper, efficient, safer, and more Appl. Sci. 2017, 7, 100 1 www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci Appl. Sci. 2017, 7, 100 sustainable technologies. Modern membrane engineering represents one of the most interesting ways for developing processes in accordance with the guidelines