TY - JOUR
T1 - Enhanced membrane distillation of organic solvents from their aqueous mixtures using a carbon nanotube immobilized membrane
AU - Gupta, Oindrila
AU - Roy, Sagar
AU - Mitra, Somenath
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was partially supported by a grant from the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems Division, National Science Foundation (Grant no. CBET-1603314 ). The authors also acknowledge the use of instrumentation at the Otto York Center for membrane characterization, and funding from the Ada Fritts Chair position at New Jersey Institute of Technology .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/12/15
Y1 - 2018/12/15
N2 - In this paper, we report for the first time the application of carbon nanotube immobilized membrane (CNIM) for enhanced separation of organic solvents from their aqueous mixtures via sweep gas membrane distillation. The presence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the hydrophobic membrane surface significantly altered the liquid–membrane interactions to promote isopropanol (IPA) transport in IPA-water mixture by inhibiting water penetration into the membrane pores. The preferential sorption of IPA on the CNIM was evident from the contact angle measurements. The isopropanol flux, selectivity and mass transfer coefficient obtained with CNIM were significantly higher than the corresponding unmodified PTFE membrane at different isopropanol concentrations and temperatures with enhancement in separation factor reaching as high as 350% at 70 °C. An increase in mass transfer coefficient of about 132% was also observed. Performance enhancement in CNIM was mainly attributed to the preferential sorption on the CNTs followed by rapid desorption from its surface.
AB - In this paper, we report for the first time the application of carbon nanotube immobilized membrane (CNIM) for enhanced separation of organic solvents from their aqueous mixtures via sweep gas membrane distillation. The presence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the hydrophobic membrane surface significantly altered the liquid–membrane interactions to promote isopropanol (IPA) transport in IPA-water mixture by inhibiting water penetration into the membrane pores. The preferential sorption of IPA on the CNIM was evident from the contact angle measurements. The isopropanol flux, selectivity and mass transfer coefficient obtained with CNIM were significantly higher than the corresponding unmodified PTFE membrane at different isopropanol concentrations and temperatures with enhancement in separation factor reaching as high as 350% at 70 °C. An increase in mass transfer coefficient of about 132% was also observed. Performance enhancement in CNIM was mainly attributed to the preferential sorption on the CNTs followed by rapid desorption from its surface.
KW - Carbon nanotubes
KW - Hydrophobic membrane
KW - Mass transfer coefficient
KW - Solvent recovery/removal
KW - Sweep gas membrane distillation
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U2 - 10.1016/j.memsci.2018.10.002
DO - 10.1016/j.memsci.2018.10.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85054467999
SN - 0376-7388
VL - 568
SP - 134
EP - 140
JO - Journal of Membrane Science
JF - Journal of Membrane Science
ER -