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    Study of the effective thickness of the water-intrudable hydrophilic layer in dual-layer hydrophilic-hydrophobic hollow fiber membranes for direct contact membrane distillation

    Year: 2020

    Journal: J. Membr. Sci., Volume 615, DEC 1

    Authors: Zou, Lusi; Gusnawan, Pri; Zhang, Guoyin; Yu, Jianjia

    Organizations: Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) through the Desalination and Water Purification Research Program

    Keywords: Effective thickness; Water-intrudable hydrophilic layer; Dual-layer hollow fiber membrane; Desalination; Direct contact membrane distillation

    Dual-layer hydrophilic-hydrophobic hollow fiber membrane is a promising membrane that simultaneously shows enhanced vapor transfer coefficient and inhibited conductive heat loss in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). The presence of an effective water-intrudable hydrophilic layer enables to reduce the vapor transportation distance and improve the water flux in DCMD. The aim of this study is to estimate the water-intrudable hydrophilic layer thickness in a dual-layer hydrophilic-hydrophobic hollow fiber membrane comprising a PVDF/PEG inner layer and a PVDF outer layer. The water-intrudable hydrophilic layer thickness was precisely measured by a dye solution permeation method under simulated DCMD conditions. The results showed that the water-intrudable hydrophilic layer thickness was highly determined by the pore size and effective porosity of the PVDF/PEG inner layer. The applied hydraulic pressure contributed significantly to the difference in the thickness of the water-intrudable hydrophilic layer. The membranes with higher thickness percentages of the water-intrudable hydrophilic layer exhibited simultaneously enhanced permeate water flux and energy efficiency in DCMD. This study offered a simple and reliable approach for the estimation of the effective thickness of the water-intrudable hydrophilic layer for the dual-layer hydrophilic-hydrophobic hollow fiber membrane that contributes substantially to the desalination performance enhancement in DCMD.
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