Published in

Elsevier, Journal of Membrane Science, (423-424), p. 11-19

DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2012.07.009

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Synthesis and fabrication of nanostructured hydrophobic polyazole membranes for low-energy water recovery

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Postprint: archiving forbidden
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Aromatic fluorinated polyoxadiazoles (F-POD) and polytriazoles (F-PT) were synthesized and for the first time manufactured into porous membranes by phase inversion and by electrospinning. The phase inversion F-POD membranes had a mean flow pore size (MFP) of 51 nm, while for F-PT it was around 74 nm. The electrospun membranes had a much larger pore size, the MFP for F-POD membrane was around 1.7 μm and for F-PT it was 2.7 μm. The membranes were tested for desalination of Red Sea water using direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). By combining the high polymer hydrophobicity and high porosity, apparent contact angles up to 162° were obtained, assuring the operation with practically no liquid water leakage under pressure up to 0.9 bar. Salt selectivity as high as 99.95% and water fluxes as high as 85 L m−2 h−1 were demonstrated, operating at 80 °C feed temperature and 22 °C permeate.