Xiao, Z. et al. (2019) Slippery for scaling resistance in membrane distillation: a novel porous micropillared superhydrophobic surface. Water Research, 155, pp. 152-161. (doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.01.036) (PMID:30844676)
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Abstract
Scaling in membrane distillation (MD) is a key issue in desalination of concentrated saline water, where the interface property between the membrane and the feed become critical. In this paper, a slippery mechanism was explored as an innovative concept to understand the scaling behavior in membrane distillation for a soluble salt, NaCl. The investigation was based on a novel design of a superhydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane with micro-pillar arrays (MP-PVDF) using a micromolding phase separation (μPS) method. The membrane showed a contact angle of 166.0 ± 2.3° and the sliding angle of 15.8 ± 3.3°. After CF4 plasma treatment, the resultant membrane (CF4-MP-PVDF) showed a reduced sliding angle of 3.0o. In direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD), the CF4-MP-PVDF membrane illustrated excellent anti-scaling in concentrating saturated NaCl feed. Characterization of the used membranes showed that aggregation of NaCl crystals occurred on the control PVDF and MP-PVDF membranes, but not on the CF4-MP-PVDF membrane. To understand this phenomenon, a “slippery” theory was introduced and correlated the sliding angle to the slippery surface of CF4-MP-PVDF and its anti-scaling property. This work proposed a well-defined physical and theoretical platform for investigating scaling problems in membrane distillation and beyond.
| Item Type: | Articles |
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| Additional Information: | The research is supported by Newton Advanced Fellowship (Grant No. NA170113) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U1507117, 21676290, 51861145313). |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | He, Mr Tao and Yin, Professor Huabing and Yuan, Dr Xiaofei |
| Authors: | Xiao, Z., Zheng, R., Liu, Y., He, H., Yuan, X., Ji, Y., Li, D., Yin, H., Zhang, Y., Li, X.-M., and He, T. |
| College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering |
| Journal Name: | Water Research |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| ISSN: | 0043-1354 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1879-2448 |
| Published Online: | 01 February 2019 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2019 Elsevier |
| First Published: | First published in Water Research 155:152-161 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher |
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