Dear Colleagues,

Potable water supplies have been one of the main concerns in many regions of the world, becoming more critical with shortages of surface water and groundwater, the worldwide increase in water consumption and the contamination and salinity of water resources. As a result, the demand for alternative water sources, including desalinated and recycled water, has increased in recent years. The main concerns with current desalination technologies are related to the sustainable running of the processes, which includes but is not limited to the energy driving the process, brine management, CO₂ emissions and water-production costs. As a result, the development of more-sustainable desalination technologies, including less-energy-intensive processes with minimum environmental impact, is under investigation. Membrane distillation (MD), a thermal-based desalination process, can be run at atmospheric pressure and lower operating temperatures compared to traditional thermal desalination processes. It can be integrated with low-grade waste heat or solar energy sources. However, more investigation in terms of MD system design, new membrane materials and process optimization is required to minimize the energy consumption and environmental footprint of the process and enhance the quantity and quality of the produced permeate.

This Special Issue on “Sustainable Water Treatment and Desalination with Membrane Distillation Technology” seeks high-quality and novel work focusing on the latest advances in membrane distillation technology for sustainable water treatment and desalination applications. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• The fabrication of novel membranes and advanced MD module engineering design in different configurations.
• Creating hybrid MD systems by integration with conventional desalination technologies, for brine management and salt recovery purposes.
• Prospects for an MD water desalination process with zero liquid discharge (ZLD).
• The theoretical modelling and simulation of complex MD systems in different configurations.
• Small-scale, stand-alone MD systems integrated with renewable energy sources for applications in remote areas.
• Long-term MD system performance at large scales, integrated with sustainable energy sources or industrial waste heat.
• MD membrane fouling and scaling issues: control and modelling.
• The costs of water production with MD systems at small and large scales.

Dr. Farzaneh Mahmoudi
Prof. Dr. Aliakbar Akbarzadeh
Guest Editors

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• sustainable desalination
• water treatment
• membrane distillation
• hybrid systems
• brine management
• numerical modeling
• solar energy
• waste heat
• long-term performance
• large-scale application