Triple-Layer Nanofiber Membranes for Treating High Salinity Brines Using Direct Contact Membrane Distillation
Mustafa Al-Furaiji,
Jason T. Arena,
Jian Ren,
Nieck Benes,
Arian Nijmeijer,
Jeffrey R. McCutcheon
Affiliations
Mustafa Al-Furaiji
Environment and Water Directorate, Ministry of Science and Technology, Baghdad 10001, Iraq
Jason T. Arena
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, 191 Auditorium Rd. Unit 3222, Storrs, CT 06269-3222, USA
Jian Ren
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, 191 Auditorium Rd. Unit 3222, Storrs, CT 06269-3222, USA
Nieck Benes
Films in Fluids, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mesa+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Arian Nijmeijer
Inorganic Membranes, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mesa+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Jeffrey R. McCutcheon
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, 191 Auditorium Rd. Unit 3222, Storrs, CT 06269-3222, USA
A composite, three-layered membrane for membrane distillation was prepared from electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers supported by commercial polyethersulfone (PES) nanofiber based nonwoven from E.I. duPont de Nemours company (DuPont). The membranes were tested in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) using a 5.0 M sodium chloride brine as a feed solution. The triple layer membrane combines the hydrophobicity of PVDF and the robustness of the PES. The triple layer membrane demonstrated excellent performance in DCMD (i.e., relatively high water flux compared to the commercial PVDF membrane and a complete salt rejection of the brine) with mechanical properties imparted by the PES layer. This work is the first to demonstrate the use of a commercially produced nanofiber nonwoven for membrane distillation.
