ABSTRACT
Membrane distillation is an emerging process that combines membrane separation with thermal distillation. As opposed to reverse osmosis (RO), MD is not sensitive to feed salinity, which means it can be applied to the desalination of highly saline feed solutions such as brine and produced water. Fouling and pore wetting are two related phenomena that adversely affect MD performance and are often detected too late: when the permeate quality has already been compromised or when fouling becomes irreversible. This chapter highlights how electrically conductive materials can be incorporated into polymeric membranes to facilitate early and reliable detection of fouling and pore wetting in MD systems.
