So far, MD has not been commercialized yet in seawater desalination due to the cost of heat needed for the feed, making it more expensive than RO. Solar heating was attempted but it is rather expensive. Most MD companies are now trying to create market for this technology in niche applications involving free (waste) heat. The examples of that are many.
I completely agree with Prof. Hassan. Even though solar energy is renewable and sustainable, presently solar panels are expensive. So MD can be efficient and an alternative economic desalination process, provided the heat source must be free. As Prof.Hassan mentioned, nowadays we have many available waste heat sources and hybrid them with MD to make it more attractive desalination process.
A lot of R & D are also going on to make solar energy harvesting much more attractive, eventually solar powered MD can be another option.
I couldn't agree with Prof Hassan and Dr Lijo more on the potential of MD for water desalination with the readily availability of waste heat on site. As demonstrated in our recent publications, electrical energy consumption of seawater MD desalination is by far lower than that of RO, thus MD can be arguably an energy saving alternative to RO when waste heat can be utilized.
Just want to add that MD can be an ideal candidate for small-scaled seawater desalination in remote coastal areas where RO is restricted due to the lack of infrastructure, pre-treatment facilities, chemicals, and expertise.
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