Superhydrophobic Modification of PVDF Membranes for Applications in Membrane Distillation

Membrane distillation (MD) is an emerging technology currently being researched for improvements in order to make it a more competitive separation process. During this process, the liquid feed undergoes treatment by directly contacting a porous hydrophobic membrane. Water vapor molecules transfer across the membrane into the permeate feed. This study performed preliminary research on the superhydrophobic modification of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hydrophobic membranes in order to improve the major disadvantages of this process. Modified membranes were tested on their performance compared to non-modified membranes in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). Modification of these membranes were unsuccessful, however, membranes were analyzed in DCMD