Synthesis of Hybrid PVDF–PTFE Membrane Using Nonhazardous Solvent for Ethanol–Water Separation through Membrane Distillation
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 26, Issue 4
Abstract
This work was focussed on synthesizing a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)–polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) hybrid flat sheet membrane using a nonhazardous solvent dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) for ethanol–water separation via vacuum membrane distillation (VMD). The base polymer (PVDF) concentrations were varied from 12 wt% to 16 wt% and the copolymer (PTFE) loading were ranged from 1 wt% to 2 wt% (e.g., 1.0 wt%, 1.5 wt%, and 2.0 wt%). The morphological characteristics, porosity, and contact angle (CA) were examined for the synthesized membranes. An increased CA was observed when PTFE loading was increased in the dope solution. The addition of PTFE to the dope solution efficiently diminished the formation of micro voids and increased the hydrophobicity of the membrane with improved characteristics. Membrane pore size, porosity, and thickness increased significantly from 0.17 µm to 0.21 µm, 48.37% to 67.79%, and 79.31 µm to 107.62 µm, respectively, within the studied range. A pure PVDF membrane CA of 88° was increased to 117.3° for 2 wt% loaded PTFE in PVDF. The synthesis of PVDF–PTFE hybrid membranes that used DMSO as a solvent and distilled water as a nonsolvent in a coagulation bath appears to be viable for membrane preparation via phase inversion to provide a reliable and sustainable separation process with a safer environment. The performance of the synthesized membrane was studied for flux and the separation factor. The maximum ethanol flux and separation factor obtained were 11 kg/m2/h and 7.0, respectively. This work suggests that the PVDF–PTFE hybrid flat sheet membranes could be used for ethanol separation in VMD.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The research group gratefully acknowledge the material research center, MNIT Jaipur, Dr. U. K. Arun Kumar (MNIT Jaipur) for support during the experimental work.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- A
- effective area of used membrane (m2);
- J
- permeate flux (kg/m2h);
- mp
- mass of dry membrane (g);
- mb
- mass of wet membrane (g);
- W
- weight of permeate (kg);
- xE
- mole fraction of ethanol in feed side;
- yE
- mole fraction of ethanol in permeate side;
- Δt
- time of separation (h);
- ɛ
- porosity of the membrane (%);
- ρp
- density of membrane (g/cm);
- γSL
- interacting force for solid and liquid phase;
- γSV
- interacting force for solid and vapor phase;
- γLV
- interacting force for liquid and vapor phase;
- ρb
- density of isopropanol (g/cm3); and
- θ
- contact angle (°).
References
Ahmad, A. L., W. K. W. Ramli, W. J. N. Fernando, and W. R. W. Daud. 2012. “Effect of ethanol concentration in water coagulation bath on pore geometry of PVDF membrane for Membrane Gas Absorption application in CO2 removal.” Sep. Purif. Technol. 88: 11–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2011.11.035.
Ahmad, N. A., C. P. Leo, A. L. Ahmad, and W. K. W. Ramli. 2015. “Membranes with great hydrophobicity: A review on preparation and characterization.” Sep. Purif. Rev. 44 (2): 109–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/15422119.2013.848816.
Alsaadi, A. S., N. Ghaffour, J.-D. Li, S. Gray, L. Francis, H. Maab, and G. L. Amy. 2013. “Modeling of air-gap membrane distillation process: A theoretical and experimental study.” J. Membr. Sci. 445: 53–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2013.05.049.
Baghel, R., S. Kalla, S. Upadhyaya, S. P. Chaurasia, and J. K. Singh. 2017a. “Treatment of Sudan III Dye from wastewater using Vacuum Membrane Distillation.” J. Basic Appl. Eng. Res. 4 (3): 237–241.
Baghel, R., S. Kalla, S. Upadhyaya, S. P. Chaurasia, and K. Singh. 2020. “CFD modeling of vacuum membrane distillation for removal of Naphthol blue black dye from aqueous solution using COMSOL multiphysics.” Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 158: 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2020.03.016.
Baghel, R., S. Upadhyaya, S. P. Chaurasia, K. Singh, and S. Kalla. 2018. “Optimization of process variables by the application of response surface methodology for naphthol blue black dye removal in vacuum membrane distillation.” J. Cleaner Prod. 199: 900–915. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.214.
Baghel, R., S. Upadhyaya, K. Singh, S. P. Chaurasia, A. B. Gupta, and R. K. Dohare. 2017b. “A review on membrane applications and transport mechanisms in vacuum membrane distillation.” Rev. Chem. Eng. 34 (1): 73–106. https://doi.org/10.1515/revce-2016-0050.
Bandini, S., C. Gostoli, and G. C. Sarti. 1992. “Separation efficiency in vacuum membrane distillation.” J. Membr. Sci. 73 (2–3): 217–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/0376-7388(92)80131-3.
Beden, M. A., M. A. Zaini, and T. A. Abdullah. 2017. “Ethanol separation using Sepabeads207 adsorbent.” J. Teknol. 79 (5): 57–62. https://doi.org/10.11113/jt.v79.9900.
Bohare, S., P. K. Burnwal, T. Kannadasan, and R. N. Agrawal. 2013. “Biological and physical sciences a review on biologically active constituents from grape Pomace.” J. Chem. 3 (3): 1983–1995.
Bolong, N., A. F. Ismail, M. R. Salim, D. Rana, and T. Matsuura. 2009. “Development and characterization of novel charged surface modification macromolecule to polyethersulfone hollow fiber membrane with polyvinylpyrrolidone and water.” J. Membr. Sci. 331 (1–2): 40–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2009.01.008.
Brassard, J.-D., D. K. Sarkar, and J. Perron. 2012. “Fluorine based superhydrophobic coatings.” Appl. Sci. 2 (2): 453–464. https://doi.org/10.3390/app2020453.
Burnwal, P. K., S. S. Tomar, D. Agrawal, and V. K. Sethi. 2014. “Production of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil.” J. Chem. Biol. Phys. Sci. 4 (2): 1787–1792.
Chiam, C.-K., and R. Sarbatly. 2013. “Vacuum membrane distillation processes for aqueous solution treatment—A review.” Chem. Eng. Process. 74: 27–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2013.10.002.
Cinelli, B. A., D. M. G. Freire, and F. A. Kronemberger. 2019. “Membrane distillation and pervaporation for ethanol removal: Are we comparing in the right way?” Sep. Sci. Technol. 54 (1): 110–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/01496395.2018.1498518.
Davey, C. J., P. Liu, F. Kamranvand, L. Williams, Y. Jiang, A. Parker, S. Tyrrel, and E. J. McAdam. 2021. “Membrane distillation for concentrated blackwater: Influence of configuration (air gap, direct contact, vacuum) on selectivity and water productivity.” Sep. Purif. Technol. 263 (October 2020): 118390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2021.118390.
Dong, Z.-Q., X.-h. Ma, Z.-L. Xu, W.-T. You, and F.-b. Li. 2014. “Superhydrophobic PVDF-PTFE electrospun nanofibrous membranes for desalination by vacuum membrane distillation.” Desalination 347: 175–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2014.05.015.
Espinoza-Gomez, H., E. Saucedo-Castillo, L. Z. Flores-López, E. Rogel-Hernandez, M. Martínez, and F. T. Wakida. 2018. “Ethanol: Water blends separation using ultrafiltration membranes of poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) partial sodium salt and polyacrylamide.” Can. J. Chem. Eng. 96 (3): 763–769. https://doi.org/10.1002/cjce.23010.
Eum, K., D. W. Kim, Y. Choi, X. Duan, M. A. Hillmyer, and M. Tsapatsis. 2020. “Assembly of graphene oxide nanosheets on diamine-treated PVDF hollow fiber as nanofiltration membranes.” ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. 2 (9): 3859–3866. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.0c00558.
Evenepoel, N., S. Wen, M. Tilahun Tsehaye, and B. Van der Bruggen. 2018. “Potential of DMSO as greener solvent for PES ultra- and nanofiltration membrane preparation.” J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 135 (28): 46494. https://doi.org/10.1002/app.46494.
Fan, H., Y. Peng, Z. Li, P. Chen, Q. Jiang, and S. Wang. 2013. “Preparation and characterization of hydrophobic PVDF membranes by vapor-induced phase separation and application in vacuum membrane distillation.” J. Polym. Res. 20 (6): 134.
Figoli, A., T. Marino, S. Simone, E. Di Nicolò, X.-M. Li, T. He, S. Tornaghi, and E. Drioli. 2014. “Towards non-toxic solvents for membrane preparation: A review.” Green Chem. 16 (9): 4034–4059. https://doi.org/10.1039/C4GC00613E.
Gravelle, S., H. Yoshida, L. Joly, C. Ybert, and L. Bocquet. 2016. “Carbon membranes for efficient water-ethanol separation.” J. Chem. Phys. 145 (12): 124708. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4963098.
Gryta, M. 2013. “Effect of flow-rate on ethanol separation in membrane distillation process.” Chem. Pap. 67 (9): 1201–1209. https://doi.org/10.2478/s11696-013-0382-0.
Gugliuzza, A., G. De Luca, E. Tocci, L. De Lorenzo, and E. Drioli. 2007. “Intermolecular interactions as controlling factor for water sorption into polymer membranes.” J. Phys. Chem. B 111 (30): 8868–8878. https://doi.org/10.1021/jp071776q.
Hamzah, N., C. P. Leo, and B. S. Ooi. 2019. “Effect of polymer loading on superhydrophobic PVDF/TiO2 supported membrane for membrane distillation.” AIP Conf. Proc. 2124 (July): 030005.
Haponska, M., A. Trojanowska, A. Nogalska, R. Jastrzab, T. Gumi, and B. Tylkowski. 2017. “PVDF membrane morphology—Influence of polymer molecular weight and preparation temperature.” Polymers 9 (12): 718. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9120718.
Harendra, S. K., B. Pappu Kumar, and D. Laxmi. 2013. “Optimization and production of cellulase from agricultural waste.” Res. J. Agric. For. Sci. 1 (7): 18–20.
Heinz, O., M. Aghajani, A. R. Greenberg, and Y. Ding. 2018. “Surface-patterning of polymeric membranes: Fabrication and performance.” Curr. Opin. Chem. Eng. 20: 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coche.2018.01.008.
Himma, N. F., N. Prasetya, S. Anisah, and I. G. Wenten. 2019. “Superhydrophobic membrane: Progress in preparation and its separation properties.” Rev. Chem. Eng. 35 (2): 211–238. https://doi.org/10.1515/revce-2017-0030.
Hou, D., L. Zhang, C. Zhao, H. Fan, J. Wang, and H. Huang. 2016. “Ultrasonic irradiation control of silica fouling during membrane distillation process.” Desalination 386: 48–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2016.02.032.
Izzati, A. R. N., M. D. I. Hatim, H. Hasbullah, and A. H. Rashid. 2015. “A morphology studies on effect of a coagulation bath mediums as the phase inversion parameter for poly (Vinylidene Fluoride) (Pvdf) membranes.” Asean J. Chem. Eng. 15 (2): 11–19. https://doi.org/10.22146/ajche.49683.
Kamaludin, R., L. A. Majid, M. H. D. Othman, S. Mansur, S. H. S. A. Kadir, K. Y. Wong, W. Khongnakorn, and M. H. Puteh. 2022. “Polyvinylidene Difluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membrane incorporated with antibacterial and anti-fouling by Zinc Oxide for water and wastewater treatment.” Membranes 12 (2): 110. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12020110.
Karimi, S., B. Ghobadian, G. Najafi, A. Nikian, and R. Mamat. 2014. “Effect of operating parameters on ethanol-water vacuum separation in an ethanol dehydration apparatus and process modeling with ANN.” Chem. Prod. Process Model. 9 (2): 179–191. https://doi.org/10.1515/cppm-2014-0016.
Khayet, M., M. P. Godino, and J. I. Mengual. 2002. “Thermal boundary layers in sweeping gas membrane distillation processes.” AlChE J. 48 (7): 1488–1497. https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.690480713.
Khumalo, N., L. Nthunya, S. Derese, M. Motsa, A. Verliefde, A. Kuvarega, B. B. Mamba, S. Mhlanga, and D. S. Dlamini. 2019. “Water recovery from hydrolysed human urine samples via direct contact membrane distillation using PVDF/PTFE membrane.” Sep. Purif. Technol. 211: 610–617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2018.10.035.
Kosinov, N., V. G. P. Sripathi, and E. J. M. Hensen. 2014. “Improving separation performance of high-silica zeolite membranes by surface modification with triethoxyfluorosilane.” Microporous Mesoporous Mater. 194: 24–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2014.03.034.
Li, J., S. Ji, G. Zhang, and H. Guo. 2013. “Surface-modification of poly(dimethylsiloxane) membrane with self-assembled monolayers for alcohol permselective pervaporation.” Langmuir 29 (25): 8093–8102. https://doi.org/10.1021/la400930y.
Mansourizadeh, A., A. F. Ismail, M. S. Abdullah, and B. C. Ng. 2010. “Preparation of polyvinylidene fluoride hollow fiber membranes for CO2 absorption using phase-inversion promoter additives.” J. Membr. Sci. 355 (1–2): 200–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2010.03.031.
Martí, M., L. Molina, C. Alemán, and E. Armelin. 2013. “Novel epoxy coating based on DMSO as a green solvent, reducing drastically the volatile organic compound content and using conducting polymers as a nontoxic anticorrosive pigment.” ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 1 (12): 1609–1618. https://doi.org/10.1021/sc400271k.
Matveev, D., V. Vasilevsky, V. Volkov, T. Plisko, A. Shustikov, A. Volkov, and A. Bildyukevich. 2022. “Fabrication of ultrafiltration membranes from non-toxic solvent dimethylsulfoxide: Benchmarking of commercially available acrylonitrile co-polymers.” J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 10 (1): 107061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2021.107061.
Meringolo, C., T. F. Mastropietro, T. Poerio, E. Fontananova, G. De Filpo, E. Curcio, and G. Di Profio. 2018. “Tailoring PVDF membranes surface topography and hydrophobicity by a sustainable two-steps phase separation process.” ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 6 (8): 10069–10077. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b01407.
Midda, M. O., and A. Suresh. 2012. “Some mechanistic insights into the action of facilitating agents on gas permeation.” AlChE J. 59 (4): 215–228.
Muhamad, N. A. S., N. M. Mokhtar, R. Naim, W. J. Lau, and A. F. Ismail. 2019. “A review of membrane distillation process: Before, during and after testing.” Int. J. Eng. Technol. Sci. 6 (1): 62–81. https://doi.org/10.15282/ijets.v6i1.1549.
Ortiz, A. U., A. Boutin, A. H. Fuchs, and F.-X. Coudert. 2012. “Anisotropic elastic properties of flexible metal-organic frameworks: How soft are soft porous crystals?” Phys. Rev. Lett. 109 (19): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.195502.
Pal, P., S. P. Chaurasia, S. Upadhyaya, R. Kumar, and S. Sridhar. 2020. “Development of hydrogen selective microporous PVDF membrane.” Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 45 (34): 16965–16975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.08.112.
Picard, C., A. Larbot, E. Tronel-Peyroz, and R. Berjoan. 2004. “Characterisation of hydrophilic ceramic membranes modified by fluoroalkylsilanes into hydrophobic membranes.” Solid State Sci. 6 (6): 605–612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solidstatesciences.2004.03.017.
Rahimpour, A., S. S. Madaeni, and Y. Mansourpanah. 2010. “Fabrication of polyethersulfone (PES) membranes with nano-porous surface using potassium perchlorate (KClO4) as an additive in the casting solution.” Desalination 258 (1–3): 79–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2010.03.042.
Rom, A., M. Strommer, and A. Friedl. 2014. “Comparison of sweepgas and vacuum membrane distillation as in-situ separation of ethanol from aqueous solutions.” Chem. Eng. Trans. 39 (Special Issue): 985–990.
Russo, F., C. Ursino, E. Avruscio, G. Desiderio, A. Perrone, S. Santoro, F. Galiano, and A. Figoli. 2020. “Innovative poly (Vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) electrospun nanofiber membrane preparation using DMSO as a low toxicity solvent.” Membranes 10 (3): 36. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10030036.
Salehi, S., M. Jahanshahi, and M. Peyravi. 2018. “Poly(vinylidene difluoride) membrane assisted by modified ZnO/ZIF nanoparticles for membrane distillation.” Chem. Eng. Technol. 41 (10): 1994–2004. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceat.201700496.
Schondelmaier, D., S. Cramm, R. Klingeler, J. Morenzin, C. Zilkens, and W. Eberhardt. 2002. “Orientation and self-assembly of hydrophobic fluoroalkylsilanes.” Langmuir 18 (16): 6242–6245. https://doi.org/10.1021/la0256533.
Shi, J.-Y., Z.-P. Zhao, and C.-Y. Zhu. 2014. “Studies on simulation and experiments of ethanol-water mixture separation by VMD using a PTFE flat membrane module.” Sep. Purif. Technol. 123: 53–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2013.12.015.
Soni, V., J. Abildskov, G. Jonsson, and R. Gani. 2008. “Modeling and analysis of vacuum membrane distillation for the recovery of volatile aroma compounds from black currant juice.” J. Membr. Sci. 320 (1–2): 442–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2008.04.025.
Tanaka, S., T. Iwata, and M. Iji. 2016. “Solvent effects on heterogeneous synthesis of cardanol-bonded cellulose thermoplastics.” Polymer 99: 307–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2016.07.024.
Thürmer, M. B., P. Poletto, M. Marcolin, J. Duarte, and M. Zeni. 2012. “Effect of non-solvents used in the coagulation bath on morphology of PVDF membranes.” Mater. Res. 15 (6): 884–890. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1516-14392012005000115.
Tibi, F., A. Charfi, J. Cho, and J. Kim. 2020. “Fabrication of polymeric membranes for membrane distillation process and application for wastewater treatment: Critical review.” Process Saf. Environ. Prot. 141: 190–201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2020.05.026.
Tiwari, B. R., M. T. Noori, and M. M. Ghangrekar. 2016. “A novel low cost polyvinyl alcohol-Nafion-borosilicate membrane separator for microbial fuel cell.” Mater. Chem. Phys. 182: 86–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2016.07.008.
Toufik, M., A. Mas, V. Shkinev, A. Nechaev, A. Elharfi, and F. Schué. 2002. “Improvement of performances of PET track membranes by plasma treatment.” Eur. Polym. J. 38 (2): 203–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0014-3057(01)00130-6.
Upadhyaya, S., K. Singh, S. P. Chaurasia, R. K. Dohare, and M. Agarwal. 2016a. “Mathematical and CFD modeling of vacuum membrane distillation for desalination.” Desalin. Water Treat. 57 (26): 11956–11971. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2015.1048306.
Upadhyaya, S., K. Singh, S. P. Chaurasia, R. K. Dohare, and M. Agarwal. 2016b. “Recovery and development of correlations for heat and mass transfer in vacuum membrane distillation for desalination.” Desalin. Water Treat. 57 (55): 26886–26898. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2016.1189245.
Wang, X., L. Zhang, D. Sun, Q. An, and H. Chen. 2009. “Formation mechanism and crystallization of poly(vinylidene fluoride) membrane via immersion precipitation method.” Desalination 236 (1–3): 170–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2007.10.064.
Wu, Q., A. Tiraferri, H. Wu, W. Xie, and B. Liu. 2019. “Improving the performance of PVDF/PVDF-g-PEGMA ultrafiltration membranes by partial solvent substitution with green solvent Dimethyl Sulfoxide during fabrication.” ACS Omega 4 (22): 19799–19807. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.9b02674.
Yuan, X. S., W. Liu, W. Y. Zhu, and X. X. Zhu. 2020. “Enhancement in flux and antifouling properties of polyvinylidene fluoride/polycarbonate blend membranes for water environmental improvement.” ACS Omega 5 (46): 30201–30209. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.0c04656.
Zhao, J., L. Shi, C. H. Loh, and R. Wang. 2018. “Preparation of PVDF/PTFE hollow fiber membranes for direct contact membrane distillation via thermally induced phase separation method.” Desalination 430 (December 2017): 86–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2017.12.041.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 26 • Issue 4 • October 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 23, 2021
Accepted: Mar 17, 2022
Published online: May 27, 2022
Published in print: Oct 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Oct 27, 2022
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
Cited by
- Wirginia Tomczak, Marek Gryta, Krzysztof Kowalczyk, The influence of storage time on the performance of polypropylene membranes applied for membrane distillation, Separation and Purification Technology, 10.1016/j.seppur.2022.122881, 308, (122881), (2023).