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Resumen:
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Membrane distillation (MD) [I] is a relatively new process that is being investigated world-wide as a low cost, energy saving alternative to conventional separation processes such as distillation and reverse osmosis (RO). This process offers some advantages compared to other more popular separation processes, such as working at room conditions (pressure and temperature); low-grade, waste and/or alternative energy sources such as solar and geothermal energy may be used; a very high level of rejection with inorganic solutions; small equipment can be employed, etc. The driving force in MD processes is the vapor pressure difference across the membrane. A temperature difference is imposed across the membrane, which results in a vapor pressure difference.The principal problem in this kind of system is the accurate measurement of the recipient volume change, especially at very low flows. A cathetometer, with up to 0,05 min resolution, is the instrument used to take these measurements, but the necessary human intervention makes this instrument not suitable for automated systems. In order to overcome this lack, a high resolution system is proposed, that makes automatic measurements of the volume of both recipients, cold and hot, at a rate of up to 10 times per second.
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