A Review of the Pre-treatments that Are Used in Membrane Distillation

Membrane distillation (MD), a new thermal-based membrane technique, can filter wastewater and high-salt brines. Low electrical energy usage, the removal of non-volatile solutes, and ambient operating pressures are a few advantages of MD versus pressure-driven processes. Unfortunately, issues with membrane fouling and pore wetting are still preventing its widespread industrial adoption. Effective pre-treatment and cleaning methods are essential to manage this issue, much like with other membrane processes. These issues receive little attention in the MD literature, despite their significance in providing a stable and reliable water treatment process. Despite their significance in maintaining a steady and dependable water treatment process, this is the case. This is demonstrated by the fact that, despite the vast and expanding body of literature on MD, a thorough examination of membrane cleaning and pre-treatment is still lacking. An extensive description of pre-treatment procedures for a variety of MD applications is provided in this paper. In order to help researchers in this sector create membrane distillation technology for broader commercial applicability, future research directions are also highlighted.