Deakin University
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

Carbon nanotube based composite membranes for water desalination by membrane distillation

journal contribution
posted on 2010-01-01, 00:00 authored by Ludovic DumeeLudovic Dumee, K Sears, J Schutz, N Finn, M Duke, S Gray
New technologies are required to improve desalination efficiency and increase water treatment capacities. One promising low energy technique to produce potable water from either sea or sewage water is membrane distillation (MD). However, to be competitive with other desalination processes, membranes need to be designed specifically for the MD process requirements. Here we report on the design of carbon nanotube (CNT) based composite material membranes for direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). The membranes were characterized and tested in a DCMD setup under different feed temperatures and test conditions. The composite CNT structures showed significantly improved performance compared to their pure self-supporting CNT counterparts. The best composite CNT membranes gave permeabilities as high as 3.3 x 10-12 kg/(m x s x Pa) with an average salt rejection of 95% and lifespan of up to 39 h of continuous testing, making them highly promising candidates for DCMD.

History

Journal

Desalination and water treatment

Volume

17

Issue

1-3

Pagination

72 - 79

Publisher

Balaban Publishers

Location

Hopkinton, Mass.

ISSN

1944-3994

eISSN

1944-3986

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Usage metrics

    Research Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC