Separation and Recycling of Concentrated Heavy Metal Wastewater by Tube Membrane Distillation Integrated with Crystallization

Tube membrane distillation (MD) integrated with a crystallization method is used in this study for the concurrent productions of pure water and salt crystals from concentrated single and mixed system solutions. The effects of concentrated Zn2+ and Ni2+ on performance in terms of membrane flux, permeate conductivity, crystal recovery rates, and crystal grades are investigated. Preferred crystallization and co-crystallization determinations were performed for mixed solutions. The results revealed that membrane fluxes remained at 2.61 kg·m−2·h−1 and showed a sharp decline until the saturation increased to 1.38. Water yield conductivity was below 10 μs·cm−1. High concentrated zinc and nickel did not have a particular effect on the rejection of the membrane process. For the mixed solutions, membrane flux showed a sharp decrease due to the high saturation, while the conductivity of permeate remained below 10 μs·cm−1 during the whole process. Co-crystallization has been proven to be a better method due to the existence of the SO42− common-ion effect. Membrane fouling studies have suggested that the membrane has excellent resistance to fouling from highly concentrated solutions. The MD integrated with crystallization proves to be a promising technology for treating highly concentrated heavy metal solutions.