A Review of Solar-Powered Membrane Distillation System: Concept Design and Development

Abstract

Rising freshwater demands and environmental pollution lead to the increase of renewable energyutilization for seawater desalination system. One of the rapidly advancing technology for seawater desalinationis the membrane distillation (MD) that has the potential to be integrated with renewable energy-driven operatingsystems, usually solar energy. This configuration is well known as solar-powered membrane distillation(SPMD), which can solve freshwater scarcity without increasing electricity cost. Numerous researchers haveexamined the integration of solar energy and MD for eco-friendly water desalination. However, there is a lack ofinformation regarding this integrated system, although the system was invented over four centuries ago. In thisreview, the SPMD system was discussed in terms of its concept design and development. The significantcontributions of the latest development of the SPMD system towards renewable energy and desalinationtechnology were highlighted. In addition, the future research outlook in the area of SPMD is further discussed.