Optimization of Nanocomposite Membrane for Membrane Distillation

Abstract

In this study, effects of nanoparticles, including 7 nm TiO2, 200 nm TiO2, and hydrophilic and hydrophobic SiO2 with mean diameter in the range of 15–20 nm and their concentration on the membrane properties and vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) performance were evaluated. The effect of membrane thickness and support materials were also investigated. The membranes were characterised extensively in terms of morphology (SEM), water contact angle, water liquid entrance pressure (LEPw), surface roughness, and pore size. While the best nanocomposite membranes with 200 nm TiO2 Nanoparticles(NPs) were obtained at 2% particle concentration, the optimal particle concentration was 5% when 7 nm TiO2 was integrated. Using nanocomposite membrane containing 2 wt% TiO2 – 200 nm nanoparticles, VMD flux of 2.1 kg/m2h and LEPw of 34 PSI was obtained with 99% salt rejection. Furthermore, it was observed that decreasing the membrane thickness would increase the portion of finger-like layer in membrane and reduce the spongy-like layer when hydrophilic nanoparticles were used. Using continuous flow VMD, a flux of 3.1 kg/m2h was obtained with neat PVDF membranes, which was 600% higher than the flux obtained by the static flow VMD with the same membrane at the same temperature and vacuum pressure. The fluxes of both static and flow-cell VMD increased with temperature. Furthermore, it was evident that the continuous flow VMD at 2 LPM yielded 300% or higher flux than static VMD at any given temperature, indicating strong effects of turbulence provided in the flow-cell VMD.