Membrane distillation (MD) has been identified as a promising technology for concentrating highly saline brine water and recovering high quality water in fracking wastewater treatment and zero liquid discharge. Conventional MD processes utilize a hydrophobic microporous membrane as a barrier for liquid transfer and a medium for vapor transfer. However, when MD is employed for treating challenging wastewater containing hydrophobic and/or amphiphilic contaminants, hydrophobic membranes become susceptible to fouling and/or wetting—two detrimental phenomena that would lead to MD process failure.  We have developed membranes with special wetting properties to enable MD for desalinating hypersaline wastewaters with high concentrations of hydrophobic and/or amphiphilic contaminants. Specifically, we have developed omniphobic membrane to impart wetting resistance and composite membrane with superhydrophilic skin layer to impart fouling resistance. Here, we present the mechanisms, materials development strategies, and MD performance of these membranes with special wetting properties. We also elucidate the synergistic impacts of the surface charge, surface energy, and feed solution compositions on the fouling and wetting behaviors of hydrophobic membranes and membrane with special wetting properties.

Novel membranes with special wetting properties for anti-fouling and anti-wetting membrane distillation

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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