Vapor Trapping Membrane for Reverse Osmosis
Author(s)
Laoui, Tahar
Lee, Jongho
O'Hern, Sean C
Karnik, Rohit
Date Issued
November 2010
Journal
Proceedings of the ASME 2010 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition
Publisher
ASME International
Citation
Lee, Jongho, Sean O’Hern, Rohit Karnik, and Tahar Laoui. “Vapor Trapping Membrane for Reverse Osmosis.” Proceedings of the ASME 2010 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, 12-18 November, 2010, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, ASME, 2010. © 2010 by ASME.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This paper presents a concept for desalination by reverse osmosis (RO) using a vapor-trapping membrane. The membrane is composed of hydrophobic nanopores and separates the feed salt water and the fresh water (permeate) side. The feed water is vaporized by applied pressure and the water vapor condenses on the permeate side accompanied by recovery of latent heat. A probabilistic model was developed for transport of water vapor inside the nanopores, which predicted 3-5 times larger mass flux than conventional RO membranes at temperatures in the range of 30-50°C. An experimental method to realize short and hydrophobic nanopores is presented. Gold was deposited at the entrance of alumina pores followed by modification using an alkanethiol self-Assembled monolayer. The membranes were tested for defective or leaking pores using a calcium ion indicator (Fluo-4). This method revealed the existence of defect-free areas in the 100-200 μm size range that are sufficient for flux measurement. Finally, a microfluidic flow cell was created for characterizing the transport properties of the fabricated membranes. Topics: Vapors , Membranes , Reverse osmosis
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
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Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1115/IMECE2010-39242
