Volume 6, No. 2, June 2018
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Functionalized PVDF Nanofiber Membranes for Desalination by Direct Contact Membrane Distillation

Johnson E. Efome*, Fan Yang, Dipak Rana, Takeshi Matsuura, Christopher Lan
Industrial Membrane Research Institute, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur Ottawa ON Canada, K1N 6N5.
Abstract: The recent combination of nano particles and polymer in fabricating polymeric membranes has
shown immerse potentials in developing composite membrane materials for practical applications
including pollutant sequestration, reverse osmosis and membrane distillation. Here, this study reports the
functionalization of Polyvinylidene fluoride electrospun nanofibers by the addition of different nano fillers
(CuO, TiO2, SiO2 and MOF-F300). The composite membrane materials were tested to determine their
capability in the production of portable water from seawater by direct contact membrane distillation.
Though the MOF composited membranes had the highest porosity, the flux shown by the TiO2 composited
membrane was greatest amongst all the composites (up to 7.2 kg/m2·h) at a temperature difference of 27oC.
The salt rejection for a 35 g/L NaCl solution was >99.9% for all membranes tested with permeate
conductivities surpassing the drinking water standard. The attachment of nanofiber and support was
significantly improved which is a key functionality in predicting long-term membrane durability, filler
compatibility and flux stability of substrate composited membranes. This class of functionalized
membranes materials are promising candidates for desalination and other membrane base applications.
 
Keywords: Membrane distillation, nanofiber, electrospinning, nanoparticles.

Cite:Johnson E. Efome, Fan Yang, Dipak Rana, Takeshi Matsuura, Christopher Lan, "Functionalized PVDF Nanofiber Membranes for Desalination by Direct Contact Membrane Distillation," International Journal of Materials Science and Engineering, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 67-71, June 2018. doi: 10.17706/ijmse.2018.6.2.67-71

General Information

ISSN: 2315-4527 (Print)
Abbreviated Title: Int. J. Mater. Sci. Eng.
Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Emeritus Dato' Dr. Muhammad Yahaya
DOI: 10.17706/ijmse
Abstracting/ Indexing: Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, Google Scholar, Crossref
E-mail: ijmse@iap.org

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