Effects of Operating Conditions on Permeate Flux and Removal Efficiency of Membrane Distillation in Semiconductor Wastewater Treatment
Main Article Content
Abstract
The semiconductor industry is currently facing a major challenge in treating wastewater that contains high concentrations of pollutants and a complex composition. This study focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of membrane distillation (MD) technology in treating semiconductor wastewater by investigating the influence of operating parameters–including feed temperature (40–80 °C) and flow rate (200–400 mL/min) on permeate flux, pollutant removal efficiency, and the concentration factor of the system. Experimental results show that feed temperature is the dominant factor controlling the increase in permeate flux, with the optimal operating condition occurring at a temperature of 60 °C and a flow rate of 300 mL/min. The MD technology effectively removes the characteristic pollutants, including organic matter, NO₃⁻, PO₄³⁻, and SiO₂, with removal efficiencies maintained above 95%. In particular, for multivalent anions such as PO₄³⁻, the separation process exhibits very high effectiveness, with removal efficiency reaching nearly 99%, while the concentration factor attained is 2.3. This study provides an initial assessment of the potential of MD technology for clean-water recovery, concentration, and efficient resource reuse from the semiconductor industry.
Keywords
Semiconductor, membrane distillation, reuse, circular economy
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