Surface Modification of PVDF Membranes for Treating Produced Waters by Direct Contact Membrane Distillation

Mohanad Kamaz, Arijit Sengupta, Ashley Gutierrez, Yu-Hsuan Chiao and Ranil Wickramasinghe
Additional contact information
Mohanad Kamaz: Ralph E Martin Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72703, USA
Arijit Sengupta: Ralph E Martin Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72703, USA
Ashley Gutierrez: Department of Chemical Engineering, Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA
Yu-Hsuan Chiao: Ralph E Martin Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72703, USA
Ranil Wickramasinghe: Ralph E Martin Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72703, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-12

Abstract: Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) has been conducted to treat hydraulic fracturing-produced water using polyvinylidenedifluoride (PVDF) membranes. Tailoring the surface properties of the membrane is critical in order to reduce the rate of adsorption of dissolved organic species as well as mineral salts. The PVDF membranes have been modified by grafting zwitterion and polyionic liquid-based polymer chains. In addition, surface oxidation of the PVDF membrane has been conducted using KMnO 4 and NaOH. Surface modification conditions were chosen in order to minimize the decrease in contact angle. Thus, the membranes remain hydrophobic, essential for suppression of wetting. DCMD was conducted using the base PVDF membrane as well as modified membranes. In addition, DCMD was conducted on the base membrane using produced water (PW) that was pretreated by electrocoagulation to remove dissolved organic compounds. After DCMD all membranes were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy imaging as well as Energy-Dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy. Surface modification led to a greater volume of PW being treated by the membrane prior to drastic flux decline. The results indicate that tailoring the surface properties of the membrane enhances fouling resistance and could reduce pretreatment requirements.

Keywords: fouling; hydraulic fracturing; polyionic liquid; surface modification; zwitterion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/5/685/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/5/685/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:5:p:685-:d:209115

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().