Waste Heat Driven Membrane Distillation for Industrial Wastewater Treatment

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School of Chemical Technology | Doctoral thesis (article-based)
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Date

2021

Department

Biotuotteiden ja biotekniikan laitos
Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems

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Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

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Series

Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 184/2020

Abstract

The European Union has placed a high priority on reaching the goals described in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This aim has provided added momentum to member-state environmental regulatory authorities to further tighten the discharge limits of industrial wastewater. These measures strongly influence existing industrial practices as many traditional wastewater treatment methods cannot achieve these strict release limits. Moreover, industrial sectors are encouraged to employ a zero liquid discharge strategy for advanced wastewater management, particularly for process water reuse. Emphasis is thus now placed on improved water treatment systems to recover, reuse and release water in a manner that protects natural resources, guarantees stringent regulatory constraints and ensures financial viability. In this context membrane distillation (MD) is a promising industrial wastewater treatment technology capable of meeting these requirements while utilizing low-grade heat sources. This thesis focuses on experimental investigations and techno-economic analysis of waste heat driven MD systems for water purification in two water-intensive industries: nano-electronics facilities and cogeneration plants. Samples collected at relevant facilities were tested in an air gap MD bench unit and a semi-commercial pilot plant, with a focus on separation efficiency and potential for achieving high recovery ratios. For the techno-economic analysis of the industrial scale system, the performance of the chosen semi-commercial unit was considered to evaluate the full-scale system operation in terms of thermal energy demand and expected water purification cost. Various thermal integration approaches were investigated while considering locally available heat sources to realize the energy requirements of the specific MD system. The selected case studies include: removal of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) from photolithography process wastewater in nano-electronics industries; treatment of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process wastewater in nano-electronics industries; and water recovery through advanced flue gas condensate treatment from municipal solid waste incineration and biofuel fired cogeneration plants. The results from nano-electronics wastewater treatment tests showed that high- quality permeate could be recovered while observing good to excellent separation efficiencies of analyzed contaminants. Moreover, the proposed advanced flue gas condensate treatment is also proved successful while removing the pollutants up to the concentration levels of parts per billion. The proposed pretreatment step, pH adjustment of MD feeds, enhanced ammonia removal efficiency in all cases. Compared to current practices, the separation efficiencies of the considered MD based processes are improved. The simulation results indicate that the required thermal energy for operating large scale MD systems is readily available via internal waste heat sources of nano-electronics facilities for handling typical volumes of the mentioned wastewaters. In cogeneration plants, district heating supply and return lines are well suited as the heat source and heat sink to manage industrial-scale MD systems effectively. The process economy shows that the unit water treatment cost is mainly constrained by thermal energy cost. In case when the price of heat is considered negligible, the unit water treatment cost is significantly lower than the competing technologies.

Description

Defense is held 1.3.2021 9:00 – 12:00 online https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/63118818082

Supervising professor

Martin, Andrew, Prof., KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden; Dahl, Olli, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, Finland

Thesis advisor

Martin, Andrew, Prof., KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Dahl, Olli, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, Finland

Keywords

membrane distillation, experimental investigations, techno-economic, wastewater, flue gas condensate, waste heat, district heating, nano-electronics

Other note

Parts

  • [Publication 1]: Imtisal-e- Noor, Jan Coenen, Andrew Martin, Olli Dahl and Miriam Åslin, "Experimental investigation and techno-economic analysis of tetramethylammonium hydroxide removal from wastewater in nano-electronics manufacturing via membrane distillation". Journal of Membrane Science, 2019, Volume 579, p. 283-293.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201904022536
    DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2019.02.067 View at publisher
  • [Publication 2]: Imtisal-e- Noor, Jan Coenen, Andrew Martin and Olli Dahl. "Performance assessment of chemical mechanical planarization wastewater treatment in nano-electronics industries using membrane distillation". Separation and Purification Technology, 2020, Volume 235, 116201.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201911076194
    DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2019.116201 View at publisher
  • [Publication 3]: Imtisal-e- Noor, Andrew Martin and Olli Dahl. "Techno-economic system analysis of membrane distillation process for treatment of chemical mechanical planarization wastewater in nano-electronics industries". Separation and Purification Technology, 2020, Volume 248, 117013.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202008285217
    DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2020.117013 View at publisher
  • [Publication 4]: Imtisal-e- Noor, Andrew Martin and Olli Dahl. "Water recovery from flue gas condensate in municipal solid waste fired cogeneration plants using membrane distillation". Chemical Engineering Journal, 2020, Volume 399, 125707.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202006254109
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2020.125707 View at publisher
  • [Publication 5]: Imtisal-e- Noor, Andrew Martin and Olli Dahl. "District heating driven membrane distillation for advanced flue gas condensate treatment in combined heat and power plants". Journal of Cleaner Production, 2021, In press, 125979.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202102262118
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.125979 View at publisher

Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-64-0132-4

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[diss] Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu / CHEM