Release Time:2019-11-07  Hits:

Indexed by: Journal Article

Date of Publication: 2019-05-01

Journal: SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY

Included Journals: CPCI-S、SCIE、EI

Volume: 214

Issue: ,SI

Page Number: 11-20

ISSN: 1383-5866

Key Words: Membrane distillation; Superhydrophobic membrane; Antifouling; Nucleation; Water treatment

Abstract: In this work, the superhydrophobic polypropylene (PP) composite membranes with modified surface were successfully fabricated by loading the SiO2 nanoparticles and attaching low surface energy 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane. The impact of deposited nanoparticle size on the surface roughness, heterogeneous nucleation barrier and critical nucleus size versus the loaded nanoparticle size (d(nuclear)(*)/d) was simulated by the model combining the surface roughness and superhydrophobility with the critical nucleation energy. The optimized loaded nanoparticles size maintained the proper roughness and d(nuclear)(*)/d to ensure the desired performance of antifouling. The improved superhydrophobic surface enhanced the anti-wetting ability of the membrane for vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) purpose. The resulting modified membrane possessed good anti wetting ability and stable anti-fouling performance during long-term continuous and batch operation of VMD treating high salinity water system. The fouling rate of the fabricated membrane was decreased to 20% of the one of the original membrane under 15 wt% high salinity feed condition.