International Journal of Nuclear Desalination 

About: International Journal of Nuclear Desalination is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Desalination & Geothermal desalination. It has an ISSN identifier of 1476-914X. Over the lifetime, 116 publications have been published receiving 587 citations.

Possibility of nuclear desalination through various membrane distillation configurations: a comparative study

Abstract: Three membrane distillation processes, direct contact membrane distillation, sweeping gas membrane distillation and vacuum membrane distillation, have been experimentally studied in a shell-and-tube capillary membrane module. Preliminary experiments were conducted using distilled water and sodium chloride aqueous solutions as feed. The effects of the operating parameters - flow rate, temperature and salt concentration - have been investigated. A theoretical analysis that considers the heat and mass transfer through microporous hydrophobic membrane has been developed. A comparative study was made between the three membrane distillation configurations. Membrane distillation can be an alternative for liquid nuclear waste treatment.

Freezing-melting process and desalination: Review of present status and future prospects

Abstract: The main factors affecting the use of freezing-melting (FM) process are the capital cost and the process complexity. The FM technology was successful when these two factors were compensated by other advantages. The success in food industry was mainly due to its ability of producing high-quality products compared to the available thermal technology in the market. In chemical industry it is generally adopted when there are no other alternatives. It would be difficult to utilise the above advantages to adopt FM process for desalination. Furthermore, misconceptions and negative attitudes also affected the progress of FM process. In desalination, a number of existing technologies are available. The pilot studies in several countries indicated that the hybrid techniques of combining FM process and other desalination methods have high potential for development. The strategies for the commercial success of the FM process in desalination industry are identified in this paper.

Direct contact membrane distillation for nuclear desalination. Part I: Review of membranes used in membrane distillation and methods for their characterisation

Abstract: Membrane distillation (MD) is a relatively novel membrane technology considered by the researchers as a potential method for seawater desalination. In the first issue of this journal, the possibility of nuclear desalination by MD was discussed comparing various MD configurations. The present paper firstly reviews the membranes used in MD and the methods of their characterisation, among them wet/dry flow method, gas permeation test, scanning electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The membrane parameters, which have to be known before selection of the membranes for some specific applications such as liquid entry pressure of water, pore size, pore size distribution, porosity and pore tortuosity, were determined. The knowledge on membranes themselves, membrane materials and morphology is very important for engineering of polymer barriers for MD and development of industrial membrane units. The availability of the industrial MD modules is up to now one of the limitations for further process implementation.

Direct contact membrane distillation for nuclear desalination, Part II: experiments with radioactive solutions

Abstract: This paper proposes the application of Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD) coupled with a nuclear reactor for water desalination and for low- and medium-level radioactive liquid waste concentration. Both laboratory and pilot plant experiments were carried out using the membranes reviewed in Part I of this paper. The effects of process parameters on the productivity and quality of DCMD systems are discussed. Distilled water, non-active solutions of inorganic salts and solutions with admixtures of radionuclides and simulated and real radioactive waste samples were used as feed solutions. Employing DCMD for liquid low- and medium-level radioactive waste processing is an alternative to traditional methods used in nuclear technology. The combination of radioactive waste processing and water desalination creates an economical integrated system for water and wastewater management in nuclear power plants.

Hybrid RO MSF: a practical option for nuclear desalination

Abstract: Hybrid RO MSF desalination combines the advantages of the high desalting performance of distillation processes and lower energy requirement of membrane processes. It allows a better match between power and water requirements and enables better utilisation of the power generated from MSF into the RO. Hybrid RO MSF can lead to an optimised feedwater temperature of the RO plant since is possible to use cooling seawater from the reject stage of the MSF plant as feed to the RO plant. Higher feed temperature is advantageous for the RO plant since water flux of the membrane is about 2.5% higher per degree temperature rise at a fixed pressure. Various RO MSF combinations coupled with a nuclear power plant were studied. The optimum hybrid RO MSF scheme will be reviewed in order to illustrate the considerable gain of this option. The potential advantages of RO MSF hybrid desalination systems with nuclear plant will be discussed. The appropriate combinations depend on the local conditions and power/water requirements. The required power to water ratio and product water quality is among the important factors determining the particular RO MSF schemes to be used.