Performance investigation of poly(vinylidene fluoride‐cohexafluoropropylene) membranes containing SiO2 nanoparticles in a newly designed single vacuum membrane distillation system

Abstract

AbstractThe current study focuses on the development of a superhydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride‐cohexafluoropropylene) nanocomposite membrane suitable for vacuum membrane distillation by incorporating SiO2 nanoparticles. At loading hydrophobic nano‐SiO2 particle concentration (0.50–1.50 wt.%), the developed nanocomposite membranes are optimized in terms of vacuum membrane distillation performance. The influence of temperature, vacuum pressure, and feed water flow is studied for desalinating high‐salinity brine. The results show that the developed vacuum distillation membrane is capable of 95% salt rejection during the treatment of a highly saline feed (65,000 ppm) at fixed flow rates of 120 L/h saline feed and different operating conditions consisting of feed inlet temperatures ranging from 40°C to 70°C and distillate inlet temperatures of 7–15°C. The vacuum membrane distillation process achieves 0.38–1.66% water recovery with increasing concentration factor, meaning that recovery is increased, and shows a specific electrical energy consumption of 5.16–23.90 kWh/m3 for product water. Overall, the newly designed membrane demonstrates suitability for a vacuum membrane distillation system.Practitioner Points Desalinate high‐salinity brine (TDS > 35,000 ppm) using a vacuum membrane distillation system. A hydrophobic PVDF‐HFP/SiO2 nanocomposite membrane development for vacuum membrane distillation. A newly designed single vacuum membrane distillation system for RO brine treatment.