Simultaneous heat,moisture,and salt transfer in porous building materials considering osmosis flow: Part 2: Numerical simulation for poultice desalination using osmosis

Abstract

Salt weathering of outdoor cultural properties is a significant conservation issue caused by external climatic fluctuations and groundwater uptake, and this study focuses on poultice desalination to suppress salt weathering. In a previous study, simultaneous heat, moisture, and salt transfer equations in porous materials considering osmosis were derived. Based on this theory, this study aims to evaluate the applicability and limitations of poultice desalination utilizing osmotic flow, as well as to characterize the calculation methods and challenges involved in simulating desalination processes. To achieve these objectives, the experimental results of poultice desalination reported by other researchers were reproduced by simulation. In the simulations, kaolin clay applied between the substrate and poultice was assumed to be the source of osmosis, and three calculation approaches were compared: (a) without considering osmosis, (b) as a filtration membrane that physically blocks the solute, and (c) considering the osmotic flow caused by the surface charges on kaolin. A good agreement with the experimental results was obtained in the third scenario. The key factors of this simulation are as follows: (i) anisotropy of the reflection coefficient, (ii) the calculation methodology of osmotic pressure, and (iii) introduction of a distinct equilibrium moisture content for kaolin clay. In addition, to reproduce a prolonged period of osmosis, this study demonstrates the importance of considering bidirectional solution flow and treating solute advection as a dispersion phenomenon under conditions in which osmosis and osmotic pressure are balanced. Furthermore, for the practical application of poultice desalination using osmotic flow, the interface material must be adequately supported to prevent its collapse under the applied osmotic pressure, thereby ensuring the desired effect. This research presents a simulation method capable of reproducing poultice desalination while incorporating osmotic flow, highlighting both the potential and current limitations of this approach.

Keywords

salt weathering osmotic pressure porous media saline water electrical double layer reflection coefficient

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bader

Kooi

(2005) Modelling of solute and water transport in semi-permeable clay membranes: Comparison with experiments. Advances in Water Resources 28(3): 203–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2004.11.001

De Clercq

Godts

(2014) Salt extractions of brickwork: A standard procedure? In: 3rd international conference on salt weathering of buildings and stone sculptures, Brussels, 14–16 October, pp. 457–467.

Deen

(1987) Hindered transport of large molecules in liquid-filled pores. AIChE Journal 33(9): 1409–1425. https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.690330902

Flatt

(2002) Salt damage in porous materials: How high supersaturations are generated. Journal of Crystal Growth 242(3-4): 435–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-0248(02)01429-x

Gebäck

Heintz

(2019) A pore scale model for osmotic flow: Homogenization and lattice Boltzmann simulations. Transport in Porous Media 126(1): 161–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-017-0975-0

Grementieri

Molari

Derluyn

, et al. (2017) Numerical simulation of salt transport and crystallization in drying Prague sandstone using an experimentally consistent multiphase model. Building and Environment 123(1): 289–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2017.06.049

Zhang

(2023) Quantifying coupling effects between soil matric potential and osmotic potential. Water Resources Research 59(2): e2022WR033779. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022wr033779

Jury

Horton

(2004) Soil Physics. Wiley.

Katchalsky

Curran

(1965) Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics in Biophysics. Harvard University Press.

10.

Kedem

Katchalsky

(1958) Thermodynamic analysis of the permeability of biological membranes to non-electrolytes. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 27: 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3002(58)90330-5

11.

Kemper

Rollins

(1966) Osmotic efficiency coefficients across compacted clays. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 30(5): 529–534. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1966.03615995003000050005x

12.

Kestin

Khalifa

Correia

(1981) Tables of the dynamic and kinematic viscosity of aqueous NaCl solutions in the temperature range 20–150°C and the pressure range 0.1–35 MPa. Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data 10(1): 71–88. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.555641

13.

Koniorczyk

Gawin

(2008) Heat and moisture transport in porous building materials containing salt. Journal of Building Physics 31(4): 279–300. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744259107088003

14.

Lake

Hirasaki

(1981) Taylor’s dispersion in stratified porous media. Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal 21(04): 459–468. https://doi.org/10.2118/8436-pa

15.

Katsumi

Inui

(2011) Modeling cake filtration under coupled hydraulic, electric and osmotic effects. Journal of Membrane Science 378(1-2): 485–494. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2011.05.038

16.

Low

(1955) Effect of osmotic pressure on diffusion rate of water. Soil Science 80(2): 95–100.

17.

Lubelli

van Hees

RPJ

(2010) Desalination of masonry structures: Fine tuning of pore size distribution of poultices to substrate properties. Journal of Cultural Heritage 11(1): 10–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2009.03.005

18.

Lubelli

van Hees

RPJ

De Clercq

(2011) Fine tuning of desalination poultices: Try outs in practice. In: 2nd international conference on salt weathering of buildings and stone sculptures, Copenhagen, 22–24 October, pp. 381–388.

19.

Malusis

Shackelford

(2002) Theory for reactive solute transport through clay membrane barriers. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 59(3-4): 291–316. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0169-7722(02)00041-4

20.

Matsumoto

(1978) Simultaneous heat and mass transfer in porous wall and analysis of internal condensation. In: Proceedings of the international seminar heat and mass transfer, Dubrovnik, 29 May–2 June, pp. 45–58.

21.

Medved

Černý

(2013) Osmosis in porous media: A review of recent studies. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 170: 299–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2012.12.009

22.

Mirzadeh

Zhou

Amooie

, et al. (2020) Vortices of electro-osmotic flow in heterogeneous porous media. Physical Review Fluids 5(10): 103701. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevfluids.5.103701

23.

Mualem

(1976) A new model for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media. Water Resources Research 12(3): 513–522. https://doi.org/10.1029/wr012i003p00513

24.

Paz-García

Johannesson

Ottosen

, et al. (2012) Modeling of electrokinetic desalination of bricks. Electrochimica Acta 86: 213–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2012.05.132

25.

Pel

Sawdy

Voronina

(2010) Physical principles and efficiency of salt extraction by poulticing. Journal of Cultural Heritage 11(1): 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2009.03.007

26.

Pitzer

Peiper

Busey

(1984) Thermodynamic properties of aqueous sodium chloride solutions. Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data 13(1): 1–102. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.555709

27.

Sakai

Takatori

Ogura

, et al. (2021) Investigation of the transport properties for saline water in porous materials - modeling of the permeability coefficient for saline water. Journal of Physics Conference Series 2069(1): 012214. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2069/1/012214

28.

Spiegler

Kedem

(1966) Thermodynamics of hyperfiltration (reverse osmosis): Criteria for efficient membranes. Desalination 1(4): 311–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0011-9164(00)80018-1

29.

Steiger

Asmussen

(2008) Crystallization of sodium sulfate phases in porous materials: The phase diagram Na2SO4–H2O and the generation of stress. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 72(17): 4291–4306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2008.05.053

30.

Takatori

Ogura

Wakiya

(2024) Simultaneous heat, moisture, and salt transfer in porous building materials considering osmosis flow: Part 1: Theoretical modeling based on nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Journal of Building Physics 48(2): 129–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/17442591241266835

31.

Taylor

(1953) Dispersion of soluble matter in solvent flowing slowly through a tube. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A 219: 186–203. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1953.0139

32.

van Genuchten

(1980) A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal 44(5): 892–898. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1980.03615995004400050002x

33.

Voronina

Pel

Sawdy

, et al. (2013) The influence of osmotic pressure on poulticing treatments for cultural heritage objects. Materials and Structures 46(1-2): 221–231. https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-012-9896-0

34.

Yuan-Hui

Gregory

(1974) Diffusion of ions in sea water and in deep-sea sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 38(5): 703–714. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(74)90145-8