A luminescent thermosensitive coating for a non-invasive and in-situ study of thermal polarization in hollow fiber membranes

Russo, Francesca; Santoro, Sergio; Galiano, Francesco; Ursino, Claudia; Avruscio, Elisa; Nicolò, E. Di; Desiderio, Giovanni; Lombardo, Giuseppe; Criscuoli, A.; Figoli, Alberto

doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2023.121928

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The economic feasibility of MD-MCr on a real scale relies heavily on energy consumption [21,22] because it is a hybrid membrane-thermal process with pronounced heat losses [23,24]. In fact, the sum of the latent heat consumed for the vaporization and condensation of the vapor and the heat conducted through the membrane provoke the emergence of temperature polarization (TP) with a consequent improvement in the specific energy consumption in the order of 100 kWh•m −3 [25,26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmentally Friendly Photothermal Membranes for Halite Recovery from Reverse Osmosis Brine via Solar-Driven Membrane Crystallization

Aquino,

Santoro,

Politano

et al. 2024

Membranes

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Modern society and industrial development rely heavily on the availability of freshwater and minerals. Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) has been widely adopted for freshwater supply, although many questions have arisen about its environmental sustainability owing to the disposal of hypersaline rejected solutions (brine). This scenario has accelerated significant developments towards the hybridization of SWRO with membrane distillation–crystallization (MD-MCr), which can extract water and minerals from spent brine. Nevertheless, the substantial specific energy consumption associated with MD-MCr remains a significant limitation. In this work, energy harvesting was secured from renewables by hotspots embodied in the membranes, implementing the revolutionary approach of brine mining via photothermal membrane crystallization (PhMCr). This method employs self-heating nanostructured interfaces under solar radiation to enhance water evaporation, creating a carefully controlled supersaturated environment responsible for the extraction of minerals. Photothermal mixed matrix photothermal membranes (MMMs) were developed by incorporating graphene oxide (GO) or carbon black (CB) into polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) solubilized in an eco-friendly solvent (i.e., triethyl phosphate (TEP)). MMMs were prepared using non-solvent-induced phase separation (NIPS). The effect of GO or GB on the morphology of MMMs and the photothermal behavior was examined. Light-to-heat conversion was used in PhMCr experiments to facilitate the evaporation of water from the SWRO brine to supersaturation, leading to sodium chloride (NaCl) nucleation and crystallization. Overall, the results indicate exciting perspectives of PhMCr in brine valorization for a sustainable desalination industry.

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