Incorporation of 3-dimensional lycopodium with hydrophobic nature and interconnected nano-channels into polyvinylidene fluoride membranes for desalination applications by vacuum membrane distillation

Abstract

In the present research, for the first time, lycopodium as a novel nanofiller was incorporated into a polyvinylidene fluoride matrix to fabricate lycopodium/polyvinylidene fluoride flat-sheet membrane for desalination applications by vacuum membrane distillation process. The prepared lycopodium/polyvinylidene fluoride membranes and lycopodium were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, energy dispersive X-ray, and mapping analyses. Water contact angle and liquid entry pressure measurements were also performed. Response surface methodology was applied to optimize membrane structure and performance. The optimized lycopodium/polyvinylidene fluoride membrane exhibits superior performance compared to the neat polyvinylidene fluoride membrane in terms of flux, salt rejection, water contact angle, and hydrophobicity. In vacuum membrane distillation experiments, using a 15000 ppm NaCl solution as a feed at 70 °C, the neat polyvinylidene fluoride membrane, optimum membrane, and agglomerated membrane (with high lycopodium loading) demonstrated 3.80, 25.20, and 14.83 LMH flux and 63.30%, 99.99%, 99.96% salt rejection, respectively. This improvement in flux and salt rejection of the optimized membrane was related to the presence of lycopodium with hydrophobic nature and interconnected nano-channels in membrane structure. It was found that lycopodium, as the most hydrophobic material, effectively influences the membrane performance and structure for membrane distillation applications.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

lycopodium / hydrophobicity / vacuum membrane distillation / desalination

References

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) for supporting this study (Grant No. 96008182).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11705-022-2276-6 and is accessible for authorized users.

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