Ammonia removal by sweep gas membrane distillation

Wastewater containing low levels of ammonia (100 mg/L) has been simulated in experiments with sweep gas membrane distillation at pH 11.5. The effects of feed temperature, gas flow rate and feed flow rate on ammonia removal, permeate flux and selectivity were investigated. The feed temperature is a crucial operating factor, with increasing feed temperature increasing the permeate flux significantly, but reducing the selectivity. The best-performing conditions of highest temperature and fastest gas flow rate resulted in 97% removal of the ammonia, to give a treated water containing only 3.3 mg/L of ammonia.