2.3 DCMD experiments
The DCMD experiments were conducted on a laboratoryscale
circulating unit, as illustrated in Figure 1. An in-house
made composite hollow fiber membrane consisted of organic
polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and inorganic Cloisite 15A®
was used. Figure 2 shows the Scanning Electron Microscope
(SEM) micrographs of the prepared membrane. The DCMD
system was designed to have two circulating streams, i.e. hot
stream was fed through the shell-side while cold stream was
circulated through the lumen-side of the hollow fiber
membrane in counter-current flow. The DCMD was
maintained at feed and permeate temperatures of 55.5±0.1˚C
and 20.0±1˚C, respectively. Both solution temperatures were
controlled using coiled heater (830, PROTECH) and chiller
(F26-ED, JULABO), respectively. Table 3 presents the
information on the hollow fiber membrane used as well as the
membrane module.