Experimental investigation of nanofibrous poly(vinylidene fluoride) membranes for desalination through air gap membrane distillation process

A comparative study was conducted to evaluate the performance of two membrane types of electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and commercial ploytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The optimized needleless electrospinning technique was used to prepare PVDF membranes. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wettability tests, water flux, mechanical strength and liquid entry pressure (LEP) measurements were performed to evaluate the prepared membrane. Air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) experiments were carried out to investigate the salt rejection performance and the durability of membranes. The results show that our nanofibrous PVDF membrane presents higher water permeation flux (>20 kg/m2 h) compared to commonly used PTFE. In addition, the experimental data confirms that competitive salt rejection efficiency (>99.8%) was obtained in this new membrane.