Volume 5: Innovative Solutions for Energy Transitions: Part IV

Construction and Performance of Laminated Graphene Oxide Membranes for High-Salinity Water Desalination by Thermally Driven Pervaporation Jiawei Sun, Xiaowei Qian, Ziheng Wang, Na Li

Abstract

Thermally driven pervaporation process exhibits great promise in desalination application due to its characteristics of combining low-grade heat with high selective membranes to attain efficient separation. The membrane with high and stable water permeation is of key importance in efficient utilization of thermal energy. In this work, high performance laminated graphene oxide (GO) membranes were prepared via pressure assisted filtration for desalination and waste water treatment by pervaporation. The interlayer spacing that affects the permeation and selectivity of GO membrane were tuned by inserting and crosslinking PVA in the GO lamination layers. The cross-linked GOPVA membranes displayed an outstanding and stable water flux of 98.1 kg/m2 ·h, high rejection over 99.9% and high thermal efficiency of 98% in desalinating 10 wt% NaCl solution at 85 °C. Moreover, the cross-linked membrane also exhibited intriguing separation performance in the treatment of organic-contaminated wastewater.

Keywords pervaporation, desalination, laminated graphene oxide membrane, water flux, thermal efficiency