Open AccessDesalination by Membrane Distillation Using Electrospun Membranes
Author(s) -
Mustafa Al-Furaiji,
Khairi R. Kalash
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
maǧallaẗ al-handasaẗ/journal of engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2520-3339
pISSN - 1726-4073
DOI - 10.31026/j.eng.2020.01.04
Subject(s) - membrane distillation , electrospinning , membrane , polyvinylidene fluoride , nanofiber , desalination , materials science , chemical engineering , scanning electron microscope , polymer , porosity , fiber , composite material , chemistry , biochemistry , engineering
Electrospinning is a novel technique that can be used to produce highly porous fibers with highly tunable properties. In this research, this technique is adopted to prepare the electrospun nanofiber membrane for membrane distillation application. A custom-built electrospinning setup was made to prepare the nanofibers membrane. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer was used in the electrospinning process due to its high hydrophobicity. Electrospun (PVDF) nanofibers were tested in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process using 0.6 M sodium chloride as a feed solution. The resulting nanofiber membrane exhibited high performance in DCMD (i.e. relatively high water flux and high salt rejection). It has been found that the prepared membrane has a uniform and fibrous structure as indicated by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Relatively thin fibers with a diameter of 250 nm were produced during the Electrospinning process.