7 research outputs found

    Omniphobic Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) Membrane for Desalination of Shale Gas Produced Water by Membrane Distillation

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    Microporous membranes fabricated from hydrophobic polymers such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) have been widely used for membrane distillation (MD). However, hydrophobic MD membranes are prone to wetting by low surface tension substances, thereby limiting their use in treating challenging industrial wastewaters, such as shale gas produced water. In this study, we present a facile and scalable approach for the fabrication of omniphobic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes that repel both water and oil. Positive surface charge was imparted to an alkaline-treated PVDF membrane by aminosilane functionalization, which enabled irreversible binding of negatively charged silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) to the membrane through electrostatic attraction. The membrane with grafted SiNPs was then coated with fluoroalkylsilane (perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane) to lower the membrane surface energy. Results from contact angle measurements with mineral oil and surfactant solution demonstrated that overlaying SiNPs with ultralow surface energy significantly enhanced the wetting resistance of the membrane against low surface tension liquids. We also evaluated desalination performance of the modified membrane in direct contact membrane distillation with a synthetic wastewater containing surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate) and mineral oil, as well as with shale gas produced water. The omniphobic membrane exhibited a stable MD performance, demonstrating its potential application for desalination of challenging industrial wastewaters containing diverse low surface tension contaminants

    Membrane-Based Osmotic Heat Engine with Organic Solvent for Enhanced Power Generation from Low-Grade Heat

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    We present a hybrid osmotic heat engine (OHE) system that uses draw solutions with an organic solvent for enhanced thermal separation efficiency. The hybrid OHE system produces sustainable energy by combining pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) as a power generation stage and membrane distillation (MD) utilizing low-grade heat as a separation stage. While previous OHE systems employed aqueous electrolyte draw solutions, using methanol as a solvent is advantageous because methanol is highly volatile and has a lower heat capacity and enthalpy of vaporization than water. Hence, the thermal separation efficiency of a draw solution with methanol would be higher than that of an aqueous draw solution. In this study, we evaluated the performance of LiCl–methanol as a potential draw solution for a PRO–MD hybrid OHE system. The membrane transport properties as well as performance with LiCl–methanol draw solution were evaluated using thin-film composite (TFC) PRO membranes and compared to the results obtained with a LiCl–water draw solution. Experimental PRO methanol flux and maximum projected power density of 47.1 L m<sup>–2</sup> h<sup>–1</sup> and 72.1 W m<sup>–2</sup>, respectively, were achieved with a 3 M LiCl–methanol draw solution. The overall efficiency of the hybrid OHE system was modeled by coupling the mass and energy flows between the thermal separation (MD) and power generation (PRO) stages under conditions with and without heat recovery. The modeling results demonstrate higher OHE energy efficiency with the LiCl–methanol draw solution compared to that with the LiCl–water draw solution under practical operating conditions (i.e., heat recovery <90%). We discuss the implications of the results for converting low-grade heat to power

    Bidirectional Diffusion of Ammonium and Sodium Cations in Forward Osmosis: Role of Membrane Active Layer Surface Chemistry and Charge

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    Systematic fundamental understanding of mass transport in osmosis-driven membrane processes is important for further development of this emerging technology. In this work, we investigate the role of membrane surface chemistry and charge on bidirectional solute diffusion in forward osmosis (FO). In particular, bidirectional diffusion of ammonium (NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>) and sodium (Na<sup>+</sup>) is examined using FO membranes with different materials and surface charge characteristics. Using an ammonium bicarbonate (NH<sub>4</sub>HCO<sub>3</sub>) draw solution, we observe dramatically enhanced cation fluxes with sodium chloride feed solution compared to that with deionized water feed solution for thin-film composite (TFC) FO membrane. However, the bidirectional diffusion of cations does not change, regardless of the type of feed solution, for cellulose triacetate (CTA) FO membrane. We relate this phenomenon to the membrane fixed surface charge by employing different feed solution pH to foster different protonation conditions for the carboxyl groups on the TFC membrane surface. Membrane surface modification is also carried out with the TFC membrane using ethylenediamine to alter carboxyl groups into amine groups. The modified TFC membrane, with less negatively charged groups, exhibits a significant decrease in the bidirectional diffusion of cations under the same conditions employed with the pristine TFC membrane. Based on our experimental observations, we propose Donnan dialysis as a mechanism responsible for enhanced bidirectional diffusion of cations in TFC membranes

    Development of Omniphobic Desalination Membranes Using a Charged Electrospun Nanofiber Scaffold

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    In this study, we present a facile and scalable approach to fabricate omniphobic nanofiber membranes by constructing multilevel re-entrant structures with low surface energy. We first prepared positively charged nanofiber mats by electrospinning a blend polymer–surfactant solution of poly­(vinylidene fluoride-<i>co</i>-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) and cationic surfactant (benzyltriethylammonium). Negatively charged silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) were grafted on the positively charged electrospun nanofibers via dip-coating to achieve multilevel re-entrant structures. Grafted SiNPs were then coated with fluoroalkylsilane to lower the surface energy of the membrane. The fabricated membrane showed excellent omniphobicity, as demonstrated by its wetting resistance to various low surface tension liquids, including ethanol with a surface tension of 22.1 mN/m. As a promising application, the prepared omniphobic membrane was tested in direct contact membrane distillation to extract water from highly saline feed solutions containing low surface tension substances, mimicking emerging industrial wastewaters (e.g., from shale gas production). While a control hydrophobic PVDF-HFP nanofiber membrane failed in the desalination/separation process due to low wetting resistance, our fabricated omniphobic membrane exhibited a stable desalination performance for 8 h of operation, successfully demonstrating clean water production from the low surface tension feedwater

    Omniphobic Membrane for Robust Membrane Distillation

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    In this work, we fabricate an omniphobic microporous membrane for membrane distillation (MD) by modifying a hydrophilic glass fiber membrane with silica nanoparticles followed by surface fluorination and polymer coating. The modified glass fiber membrane exhibits an anti-wetting property not only against water but also against low surface tension organic solvents that easily wet a hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane that is commonly used in MD applications. By comparing the performance of the PTFE and omniphobic membranes in direct contact MD experiments in the presence of a surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS), we show that SDS wets the hydrophobic PTFE membrane but not the omniphobic membrane. Our results suggest that omniphobic membranes are critical for MD applications with feed waters containing surface active species, such as oil and gas produced water, to prevent membrane pore wetting

    High Performance Nanofiltration Membrane for Effective Removal of Perfluoroalkyl Substances at High Water Recovery

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    We demonstrate the fabrication of a loose, negatively charged nanofiltration (NF) membrane with tailored selectivity for the removal of perfluoroalkyl substances with reduced scaling potential. A selective polyamide layer was fabricated on top of a poly­(ether sulfone) support via interfacial polymerization of trimesoyl chloride and a mixture of piperazine and bipiperidine. Incorporating high molecular weight bipiperidine during the interfacial polymerization enables the formation of a loose, nanoporous selective layer structure. The fabricated NF membrane possessed a negative surface charge and had a pore diameter of ∼1.2 nm, much larger than a widely used commercial NF membrane (i.e., NF270 with pore diameter of ∼0.8 nm). We evaluated the performance of the fabricated NF membrane for the rejection of different salts (i.e., NaCl, CaCl<sub>2</sub>, and Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The fabricated NF membrane exhibited a high retention of PFOA (∼90%) while allowing high passage of scale-forming cations (i.e., calcium). We further performed gypsum scaling experiments to demonstrate lower scaling potential of the fabricated loose porous NF membrane compared to NF membranes having a dense selective layer under solution conditions simulating high water recovery. Our results demonstrate that properly designed NF membranes are a critical component of a high recovery NF system, which provide an efficient and sustainable solution for remediation of groundwater contaminated with perfluoroalkyl substances
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