Membrane distillation (MD) is a promising desalination technology for the treatment of high salinity water. Here, we investigated the fouling characteristics of produced water obtained from hydraulic fracturing implementing a carbon nanotube immobilized membrane (CNIM) via direct contact membrane distillation. The CNIM exhibited enhanced water vapor flux 77% higher and antifouling characteristics compared to the pristine membrane. The normalized flux declination after 7 hr of operation was found to be 55% and 65% for CNIM and PTFE membrane, respectively. The addition of 1-hydroxy Ethylidene-1, 1- Diphosphonic acid (HEDP) antiscalant was observed to be effective in reducing the membrane fouling. The salt deposition was found 77% less in CNIM, which was further reduced to 135.4% with the addition of HEDP in feed, in comparison with PTFE membrane. The presence of CNTs on membrane surface facilitated the regenerability of the membrane. Results indicated that CNIM regained 45.46% of its initial water flux, whereas, the unmodified PTFE only reached to 59.45% of its initial flux after 5 days of operation.

Enhanced performance of carbon nanotube immobilized membrane for treatment of high salinity produced water via direct contact membrane distillation

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.