Review of computational fluid dynamics simulation techniques for direct contact membrane distillation systems containing filament spacers

This paper reviews recent research using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the hydrodynamics conditions, heat and mass transfer in conventional and newly designed direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) modules, such as those deploying spacer-filled feed channels. Guidelines and recommendations are presented for computational grids, numerical algorithm and schemes, spatial and temporal discretization, turbulence modelling and computational domain sizes. Most of the work which utilized CFD techniques to study DCMD systems focused on hydrodynamics and heat transfer optimization and investigating the effect of different spacers’ geometry, while few of them have tried to achieve a better understanding of the mechanisms resulting in mass transfer enhancement inside the membrane pores. This paper also reviews the different ways in which the CFD simulations are applied to improve performance of the DCMD systems.