Performance investigation of poly(vinylidene fluoride-cohexafluoropropylene) membranes containing SiO 2 nanoparticles in a newly designed single vacuum membrane distillation system

• Published in: Water environment research Vol. 96; no. 1; p. e10980
• Main Authors: Hussain Mana, Turki, Alam, Javed, Shukla, Arun Kumar, Alkhudhiri, Abdullah, Mohammed, Abdullah Najib, Alhoshan, Mansour
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-01-2024
• Subjects: poly(vinylidene fluoride-cohexafluoropropylene); desalination; high-salinity brine; membrane distillation
• ISSN: 1061-4303; 1554-7531
• DOI: 10.1002/wer.10980

The current study focuses on the development of a superhydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride-cohexafluoropropylene) nanocomposite membrane suitable for vacuum membrane distillation by incorporating SiO
nanoparticles. At loading hydrophobic nano-SiO
particle concentration (0.50-1.50 wt.%), the developed nanocomposite membranes are optimized in terms of vacuum membrane distillation performance. The influence of temperature, vacuum pressure, and feed water flow is studied for desalinating high-salinity brine. The results show that the developed vacuum distillation membrane is capable of 95% salt rejection during the treatment of a highly saline feed (65,000 ppm) at fixed flow rates of 120 L/h saline feed and different operating conditions consisting of feed inlet temperatures ranging from 40°C to 70°C and distillate inlet temperatures of 7-15°C. The vacuum membrane distillation process achieves 0.38-1.66% water recovery with increasing concentration factor, meaning that recovery is increased, and shows a specific electrical energy consumption of 5.16-23.90 kWh/m
for product water. Overall, the newly designed membrane demonstrates suitability for a vacuum membrane distillation system. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Desalinate high-salinity brine (TDS > 35,000 ppm) using a vacuum membrane distillation system. A hydrophobic PVDF-HFP/SiO
nanocomposite membrane development for vacuum membrane distillation. A newly designed single vacuum membrane distillation system for RO brine treatment.