Direct molecular diffusion and micro-mixing for rapid dewatering of LiBr solution

A review of membrane contactors applied in absorption refrigeration systems

“…Bigham et al [12] experimentally and numerically investigated the implementation of micro-scale features on the flow channel surface to induce vortices within the solution film to enhance the desorption rate. They observed that the laminar streamlines within the solution film were stretched and folded as a result of the vortices and therefore it was possible to limit the concentration boundary layer growth which in turn had a desirable effect on the desorption mechanism.…”

“…Thorud et al [5], Isfahani et al [8,9] and Bigham et al [12] used the concept of the plateand-frame heat exchanger and manufactured a laboratory scale desorber to investigate the performance of a plate-and-frame membrane module. Ali [49,50], Ali and Schwerdt [7,15], Yu et al [16], Isfahani et al [8], Isfahani and Moghaddam [10] and Bigham et al [11] used the plate-and-frame membrane module for investigating the application of membrane contactors in the absorber.…”

“…Yu et al [2] used a cellulose triacetate membrane, Riffat et al [3] used dense membrane and silicon porous membrane, Schaal et al [4], Thorud et al [5], Wang et al [6], Ali and Schwerdt [7] used hydrophobic porous membrane, Isfahani et al [8,9], Isfahani and Moghaddam [10] and Bigham et al [11,12] used superhydrophobic nanofibrous membrane, Drost et al [1] used a woven membrane and a laser-machined membrane. The laser-machined membranes have higher water vapour permeability as compared to commercially available hydrophobic porous membranes, albeit with a high cost.…”

Impact of micromixing on performance of a membrane-based absorber

“…To show this limitation, an in-house computational fluid dynamics solver based on LBM (lattice Boltzmann method) [27,28] which is verified in our prior publications [18,19,22] is evoked. Here, a brief overview of the modeling approach is provided.…”

“…The maximum error in the absorption rate was found to be less than 2% when the grid size was reduced by a factor of 2. For a detailed discussion about the solver, the numerical procedure and the numerical validation, the readers are referred to our prior publications [18,19,22].…”