Membrane distillation (MD) has been garnering increasing attention in research and development, since it has been proposed as a promising technology for desalinating hypersaline brine from various industries using low-grade thermal energy. However, depending on the application context, MD faces several important technical challenges that would lead to compromised performance or even process failure. These challenges include pore wetting, mineral scaling, and membrane fouling. This review is devoted to providing a state-of-the-art understanding of fundamental mechanisms and mitigation strategies regarding these three challenges. Guided by the fundamental understanding of each membrane failure mechanism, we discuss both operational and material strategies that can potentially address the three technical challenges. In particular, the material strategies involve the development of MD membranes with tailored special wetting properties to impart resistance against different types of membrane failure. Lastly, we also discuss research needs and best practices in future studies to further enhance our ability to overcome technical challenges toward the practical, sustainable, and scalable applications of MD.

中文翻译：

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膜蒸馏中的润湿，结垢和积垢：基本机理和缓解策略的最新见解

膜蒸馏（MD）一直以来都受到越来越多的关注，因为它被认为是使用低品位热能对来自各个行业的高盐盐水进行脱盐的一种有前途的技术。但是，根据应用环境的不同，MD面临数项重要的技术挑战，这些挑战将导致性能下降甚至过程失败。这些挑战包括孔隙润湿，矿物结垢和膜污染。这篇综述致力于提供有关这三个挑战的基本机制和缓解策略的最新知识。在对每种膜失效机制有基本了解的指导下，我们讨论了可以潜在解决三个技术挑战的操作和材料策略。特别是，材料策略涉及开发具有定制的特殊润湿性能的MD膜，以赋予抵抗不同类型膜破坏的能力。最后，我们还讨论了未来研究中的研究需求和最佳实践，以进一步增强我们克服MD实用，可持续和可扩展应用技术挑战的能力。