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PVDF hollow fiber and nanofiber membranes for fresh water reclamation using membrane distillation

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Abstract

Polyvinylidene fluoride hollow fiber and nanofibrous membranes are engineered and successfully fabricated using dry-jet wet spinning and electrospinning techniques, respectively. Fabricated membranes are characterized for their morphology, average pore size, pore size distribution, nanofiber diameter distribution, thickness, and water contact angle. Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) performances of the fabricated membranes have been investigated using a locally designed and fabricated, fully automated MD bench scale unit and DCMD module. Electrospun nanofibrous membranes showed a water flux as high as 36 L m−2 h−1 whereas hollow fiber membranes showed a water flux of 31.6 L m−2 h−1, at a feed inlet temperature of 80 °C and at a permeate inlet temperature of 20 °C.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Francois BEAUME from ARKEMA/Kynar fluoro polymers development for their kind supply of PVDF. The authors would also like to thank Meshaal Abdulkareem, Yang Liu, and Seraj from electronic workshop at KAUST for their kind assistance in the membrane fabrication set-up.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Desalination and Reuse Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Lijo Francis, Noreddine Ghaffour, Ahmad S. Alsaadi, Suzana P. Nunes & Gary L. Amy

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  1. Lijo Francis
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  2. Noreddine Ghaffour
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  3. Ahmad S. Alsaadi
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  4. Suzana P. Nunes
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  5. Gary L. Amy
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Correspondence to Lijo Francis.

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Francis, L., Ghaffour, N., Alsaadi, A.S. et al. PVDF hollow fiber and nanofiber membranes for fresh water reclamation using membrane distillation. J Mater Sci 49, 2045–2053 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7894-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-013-7894-4

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