Membrane separation processes have achieved remarkable success in desalination applications, and their role is expected to increase in the future. Despite long and extensive operational experience in membrane desalination, Saudi Arabia lags at present in the technology of membrane module development and manufacturing, and novel membrane process applications.
Aims
ñ To develop and optimize novel membrane desalination processes.
ñ To develop advanced simulation-based and experimental techniques and tools for the design of novel membrane modules for a variety of desalination-related applications.
ñ To acquire a deeper understanding of fundamental membrane transport phenomena.
Outcome
Success of this program can be measured by a number of outcomes and indicators:
ñ Successful development of membrane module design tools and protocols.
ñ Successful bench and/or pilot-scale demonstration of novel membrane desalination processes.
ñ Successful publication of program results in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Subprogram 1.1: Membrane Distillation
Projects:
“Desalination by Solar Energy Assisted Membrane Distillation”
Subprogram 1.2: Membrane Module Development
Projects:
“A novel fully integrated modeling-computational-experimental approach for the design and testing of spacers for membrane separation modules”.