Distillation systems can achieve much higher energy efficiency by utilizing multiple effects to internally recycle latent heat. Flat sheet membrane distillation systems (i.e., the Memsys MDS range of products) have taken advantage of this, but hollow fiber vacuum membrane distillation systems have not yet been systematically designed to incorporate the multi-effect concept. To advance this concept, a hollow fiber-based multi-effect VMD (HF V-MEMD) was designed and manufactured to internally recover the latent heat of the permeate vapor between effects using hollow helical baffles. A mathematical model was developed to investigate the effect of the operating and design conditions on the permeate flux, the gained output ratio (GOR), and the specific total energy consumption (STEC). It was found that a GOR of 1.5–3.5 can be achieved across a range of operating conditions. Additionally, for an optimal module design (e.g., 500 m²/m³ packing density, 0.5 m module length, and a 0.2–0.3 m shell diameter), the results indicate that a 4-effect design can improve the STEC by more than 60% compared to a single-effect design. Overall, this study concludes that the proposed energy-efficient HF V-MEMD design is most suitable for compact, portable systems to alleviate water scarcity in rural arid-regions.

蒸馏系统可通过利用多种效应在内部回收潜热来实现更高的能源效率。平板膜蒸馏系统（即Memsys MDS系列产品）已经利用了这一优势，但是中空纤维真空膜蒸馏系统尚未进行系统设计以纳入多效概念。为了推进这一概念，设计并制造了基于空心纤维的多效VMD（HF V-MEMD），以使用空心螺旋挡板在效果之间内部回收渗透蒸气的潜热。建立了一个数学模型来研究操作和设计条件对渗透通量，获得的输出比（GOR）和比总能耗（STEC）的影响。发现GOR为1.5-3。可以在一系列工作条件下实现5。此外，为了获得最佳的模块设计（例如500 m² / m ^3的填充密度，0.5 m的模块长度和0.2–0.3 m的外壳直径），结果表明，与单效设计相比，四效设计可以使STEC改善60％以上。总体而言，这项研究得出的结论是，拟议的节能型HF V-MEMD设计最适用于紧凑，便携式系统，以减轻农村干旱地区的水资源短缺。