Hydrophobic polyethersulfone porous membranes for membrane distillation

Heba ABDALLAH, Ayman EL-GENDI, Maaly KHEDR, Elham EL-ZANATI

PDF(1693 KB)
PDF(1693 KB)
Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. ›› 2015, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (1) : 84-93. DOI: 10.1007/s11705-015-1508-4
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Hydrophobic polyethersulfone porous membranes for membrane distillation

Author information +
History +

Abstract

Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermal, vapor-driven transportation process through micro porous hydrophobic membranes that is increasingly being applied to seawater and brine desalination processes. Two types of hydrophobic microporous polyethersulfone flat sheet membranes, namely, annealed polyethersulfone and a polyethersulfone/tetraethoxysilane (PES/TEOS) blend were prepared by a phase inversion process. The membranes were characterized and their performances were investigated using the vacuum membrane distillation of an aqueous NaCl solution. The performances of the prepared membranes were also compared with two commercially available hydrophobic membranes, polytetrafluorethylene and polyvinylidene fluoride. The influence of operational parameters such as feed temperature (25–65 °C), permeate vacuum pressure (200–800 mbar), feed flow rate (8–22 mL/s) and feed salt concentration (3000 to 35000 mg/L) on the MD permeation flux were investigated for the four membranes. The hydrophobic PES/TEOS membrane had the highest salt rejection (99.7%) and permeate flux (86 kg/m2·h) at 65 °C, with a feed of 7000 ppm and a pressure of 200 mbar.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

membrane distillation / hydrophobic membrane / salt rejection / permeate flux

Cite this article

Download citation ▾
Heba ABDALLAH, Ayman EL-GENDI, Maaly KHEDR, Elham EL-ZANATI. Hydrophobic polyethersulfone porous membranes for membrane distillation. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng., 2015, 9(1): 84‒93 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-015-1508-4

References

[1]
Mannella G A, LaCarrubba V, Brucato V. Characterization of hydrophobic polymeric membranes for membrane distillation process. International Journal of Material Forming, 2010, 3(1): 563–566
[2]
Alkhudhiri A, Darwish N, Hilal N. Membrane distillation: A comprehensive review. Desalination, 2012, 287: 2–18
[3]
Al-Obaidani S, Curcio E, Macedonio F, Profio G D, Al-Hinaid H, Drioli E. Potential of membrane distillation in seawater desalination: Thermal efficiency, sensitivity study and cost estimation. Journal of Membrane Science, 2008, 323(1): 85–98
[4]
Baskan R. Solar powered membrane distillation and reverse osmosis process. International Journal of Latest Research in Science and Technology, 2014, 3(1): 75–78
[5]
Foster P J, Burgoyne A, Vahdati M M. Improved process topology for membrane distillation. Separation and Purification Technology, 2001, 21(3): 205–217
[6]
Goosen M F A, Sablani S S, Al-Maskari S S, Al-Belushi R H, Wilp M. Effect of feed temperature on permeate flux and mass transfer coefficient in spiral-wound reverse osmosis systems. Desalination, 2002, 144(1-3): 367–372
[7]
Li J, Lei Z, Li C, Chen B. Comments on special distillation processes. Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2005, 22(4): 617–618
[8]
Shamel M, Chung O T. Drinking water from desalination of sea water: optimization of reverse osmosis system operating parameters. Journal of Engineering Science Technology, 2006, 1(2): 203–211
[9]
Alklaibi A M, Lior N. Membrane-distillation desalination: Status and potential. Desalination, 2005, 171(2): 111–131
[10]
Garcia-Payo M C, Rivier C A, Marison I W, Stockar U. Separation of binary mixtures by thermostatic sweeping gas membrane distillation. II. Experimental results with aqueous formic acid solutions. Journal of Membrane Science, 2002, 198(2): 197–210
[11]
Curcio E, Simone S, Profio G D, Drioli E, Cassetta A, Lamba D. Membrane crystallization of lysozyme under forced solution flow. Journal of Membrane Science, 2005, 257(1-2): 134–143
[12]
Camacho L M, Dumée L, Zhang J, Li J, Duke M, Gomez J, Gray S. Advances in membrane distillation for water desalination and purification applications. Water (Basel), 2013, 5(1): 94–196
[13]
Sivakumar M, Ramezanianpour M, Halloran G O. Mine water treatment using a vacuum membrane distillation system. APCBEE Procedia, 2013, 5: 157–162
[14]
Mericq J P, Laborie S, Cabassud C. Vacuum membrane distillation for an integrated seawater desalination process. Desalination and Water Treatreatent, 2009, 9(1-3): 287–296
[15]
Phattaranawik J, Jiraratananon R, Fane A G. Heat transport and membrane distillation coefficients in direct contact membrane distillation. Journal of Membrane Science, 2003, 212(1-2): 177–193
[16]
Khayet M, Matsuura T. Application of surface modifying macromolecules for the preparation of membranes for membrane distillation. Desalination, 2003, 158(1-3): 51–56
[17]
Garcia-Payo M C, Izquierdo-Gil M A, Fernández-Pineda C. Wetting study of hydrophobic membranes via liquid entry pressure measurements with aqueous alcohol solutions. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2000, 230(2): 420–431
[18]
Cabassud C, Wirth D. Membrane distillation for water desalination: How to chose an appropriate membrane? Desalination, 2003, 157(1-3): 307–314
[19]
Duan S H, Ito A, Ohkawa A. Removal of trichloroethylene from water by aeration, pervaporation and membrane distillation. Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan, 2001, 34(8): 1069–1073
[20]
Wang P, Chung T S. Recent advances in membrane distillation processes: Membrane development, configuration design and application exploring. Journal of Membrane Science, 2015, 474: 39–56
[21]
Lu J, Xiao T, Haijiao Q, Chen S. Effects of diluents on PVDF microporous membranes structure via thermally induced phase inversion. Technology of Water Treatment, 2013, 39: 33–36
[22]
Ma W, Zhou B, Liu T, Zhang J, Wang X. The supramolecular organization of PVDF lamellae formed in diphenylketone dilutions via thermally induced phase separation. Colloid & Polymer Science, 2013, 291(4): 981–992
[23]
Kang G D, Cao Y M. Application and modification of poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes—A review. Journal of Membrane Science, 2014, 463: 145–165
[24]
Zuo G, Wang R. Novel membrane surface modification to enhance anti-oil fouling property for membrane distillation application. Journal of Membrane Science, 2013, 447: 26–35
[25]
Tijing L D, Choi J S, Lee S, Kim S H, Shon H K. Recent progress of membrane distillation using electrospun nanofibrous membrane. Journal of Membrane Science, 2014, 453(1): 435–462
[26]
Wang P, Chung T S. Exploring the spinning and operation of multi-bore hollow fiber membranes for vacuum membrane distillation. AIChE Journal. American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2014, 40(3): 1078–1090
[27]
Gryta M. Desalination of thermally softened water by membrane distillation process. Desalination, 2010, 257(1-3): 30–35
[28]
Ali S S, Abdallah H. Development of PES/CA Blend RO Membrane for Water Desalination. International Review of Chemical Engineering, 2012, 4: 316–323
[29]
Ananth A, Arthanareeswaran G, Wang H. The influence of tetraethylorthosilicate and polyethyleneimine on the performance of polyethersulfone membranes. Desalination, 2012, 287: 61–70
[30]
Li B, Sirkar K K. Novel membrane and device for vacuum membrane distillation-based desalination process. Journal of Membrane Science, 2005, 257(1-2): 60–75
[31]
Curcio E, Drioli E. Membrane distillation and related operations (A Review). Separation and Purification Review, 2005, 34(1): 35–86
[32]
El-Bourawi M S, Ding Z, Ma R, Khayet M. Review a framework for better understanding membrane distillation separation process. Journal of Membrane Science, 2006, 285(1-2): 4–29
[33]
Mohammadi T, Akbarabadi M. Separation of ethylene glycol solution by vacuum membrane distillation (VMD). Desalination, 2005, 181(1-3): 35–41
[34]
Adiche C, Sundmacher K. Experimental investigation on a membrane distillation based micro-separator. Chemical Engineering and Processing, 2010, 49(4): 425–434
[35]
Khayet M, Godino M P, Mengual J I. Thermal boundary layers in sweeping gas membrane distillation processes. AIChE Journal. American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2002, 48(7): 1488–1497
[36]
Rivier C A, Garca-Payo M C, Marison I W, Stockar U. Separation of binary mixtures by thermostatic sweeping gas membrane distillation. I. Theory and simulations. Journal of Membrane Science, 2002, 201(1-2): 1–16
[37]
Martínez-Díez L, Vázquez-González M I. Temperature and concentration polarization in membrane distillation of aqueous salt solutions. Journal of Membrane Science, 1999, 156(2): 265–273

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
AI Summary AI Mindmap
PDF(1693 KB)

Accesses

Citations

Detail

Sections
Recommended

/