Nanodiamond immobilized membranes for enhanced desalination via membrane distillation

Madhuleena Bhadra, Sagar Roy, Somenath Mitra

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed the emergence of detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs) as a new member of the nanocarbon family. This paper reports the immobilization of DNDs within a hydrophobic membrane for desalination applications. A dispersion of DNDs in polyvinylidene fluoride polymer was injected through a hydrophobic membrane, which incorporated the DNDs within the membrane. Embedding only a minimal quantity of (approximately 2%) the nanocarbon favorably altered the water vapor-membrane interactions to enhance water vapor permeability while preventing liquid penetration into the membrane pores thereby enhancing water vapor flux. Overall, desalination was consistently better with DND immobilized membrane than with conventional polypropylene, with flux enhancement as high as 118% in the sweep gas membrane distillation mode.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)115-119
Number of pages5
JournalDesalination
Volume341
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - May 15 2014

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • General Chemical Engineering
  • General Materials Science
  • Water Science and Technology
  • Mechanical Engineering

Keywords

  • Detonation nanodiamond immobilized membrane (DNDIM)
  • Detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs)
  • Flux
  • Hydrophobic
  • Sweep gas membrane distillation

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