LAUSR

This paper discusses the response surface methodology (RSM) study on a recent direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) system. The DCMD system is reviewed due to its myriad attention on desalination process, especially on water treatment of high salinity and reclamation of industrial process water. The fundamental of DCMD, as well as the mass and heat transfer principles for modelling the system, are firstly explained and compared with previous studies. Then, the researcher highlighted the parameters involved in the modelling of DCMD process, such as feed temperature, velocity, and concentration, simultaneously with common membrane properties in mass and heat transfer models. The correlation of these frequently studied parameters with the conventional model was included and summarised. Subsequently, RSM was performed for the model development of the DCMD system, which included common design matrix applications, such as Box–Behnken, central composite design, and full factorial design. Finally, this work reviews the most recent application for the DCMD modelling of the model, comparing its experimental number runs, independent input number, model levels, and accuracy for optimising the DCMD process using RSM.