Development of graphene oxide-based membrane as a pretreatment for thermal seawater desalination

Scaling constitutes a major concern in seawater desalination. In thermal desalination, scaling is limiting the top brine temperature (TBT). Brine temperature limitation depends on the concentration of divalent ions. This paper reports the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO)/polyacrylamide (PAM)/polyeth...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Desalination 2019-09, Vol.465, p.13-24
Main Authors: Abdelkader, Bassel A., Antar, Mohamed A., Laoui, Tahar, Khan, Zafarullah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Desalination
Graphene oxide
Nanofiltration
Polyethersulfone
Pretreatment
Top brine temperature
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Summary:Scaling constitutes a major concern in seawater desalination. In thermal desalination, scaling is limiting the top brine temperature (TBT). Brine temperature limitation depends on the concentration of divalent ions. This paper reports the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO)/polyacrylamide (PAM)/polyethersulfone (PES) membrane, in which GO layer is deposited on the surface of PES substrate using PAM as an adhesive layer, to be used as a pretreatment step to filter the divalent ions in thermal seawater desalination application. GO/PAM-PES membrane is prepared via spin coating technique, then reduced to rGO/PAM-PES by subjecting the membrane to hydrogen iodide (HI). PAM is used as an adhesive layer onto PES membrane (an ultrafiltration membrane) to improve rGO layer attachment onto its surface. The results indicate that increasing pressure increases both the rejection and the permeate flux. Using seawater, rGO/PAM-PES yields a higher rejection for Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions compared with commercial nanofiltration membrane (NF270). The pretreatment step allows the increase in TBT to 148 °C using NF, 160 °C using NF-GO and 166 °C using rGO membranes. [Display omitted] •GO/PAM-PES membrane is prepared via spin coating then reduced to 2rGO/PAM-PES•NF270 and rGO membranes are tested in a cross-flow test with MgSO4, CaSO4 and seawater•2rGO/PAM-PES (or UF membrane coated with rGO) and NF membranes yield a similar rejection rate•2rGO/PAM-PES membrane yield the highest TBT without scaling for MS•The TBT can be increased to 148 °C using NF, 160 °C using NF-GO and 166 °C using rGO membrane
ISSN:0011-9164
1873-4464
DOI:10.1016/j.desal.2019.04.028