Zhu Mengfan, Mao Yu
Departments of Biosystems Engineering, Oklahoma State University Stillwater Oklahoma 74078 USA
RSC Adv. 2020 Nov 6;10(66):40562-40568. doi: 10.1039/d0ra07629e. eCollection 2020 Nov 2.
Though membranes with pore size larger than 1 μm are much desired to increase the permeate flux of membrane distillation (MD), the vulnerability of large-pore-size membranes to pore wetting results in the penetration of saline water and consequent failure of MD operation. We report modification of large-pore-size membranes by chemically vapor deposited nanocoatings to achieve both high salt rejection and high permeate flux. The chemical vapor modification not only led to enhanced surface hydrophobicity and increased liquid entry pressure in membranes, but also significantly improved membrane wetting resistance at high temperature. Membranes with 1.0 and 2.0 μm pore size were successfully used for MD desalination with salt rejection higher than 99.99% achieved. Enlarging the pore size from 0.2 μm to 2.0 μm contributed to 48-73% enhancement in the permeate flux of the modified membranes. The modified large-pore-size membranes maintained the high permeate flux at elevated saline concentration and extended the operation time.
尽管人们非常希望使用孔径大于1μm的膜来提高膜蒸馏(MD)的渗透通量,但大孔径膜易受孔润湿影响,会导致盐水渗透,从而使MD操作失败。我们报道了通过化学气相沉积纳米涂层对大孔径膜进行改性,以实现高脱盐率和高渗透通量。化学气相改性不仅提高了膜表面的疏水性,增加了膜的液体进入压力,还显著提高了膜在高温下的抗润湿性。孔径为1.0μm和2.0μm的膜成功用于MD脱盐,脱盐率高于99.99%。将孔径从0.2μm扩大到2.0μm使改性膜的渗透通量提高了48 - 73%。改性大孔径膜在盐水浓度升高时仍保持高渗透通量,并延长了操作时间。