investigation of commercial ptfe membrane for desalination of high salinity solutions and wastewater treatment using membrane distillation

Membrane distillation (md) is a green emerging technology that can be used for the desalination of high salinity solutions and wastewater treatment# the main reason for the limited commercial implementation of md is membrane pore wetting, which affects the separation performance negatively# in the case of oily wastewater, the presence of surfactants can reduce the liquid entry pressure (lep) and consequently increases the probability of pore wetting# another crucial limitation is the insufficient strength and stability of membranes in long-term operations# these two issues are discussed in the current study# first, the performance of double layer ptfe membrane has been investigated in order to improve the process stability# it was concluded that the heat-press can enhance the flux of double-layer membrane up to 66#43%# second, the presence of surfactant in the feed solution has also been assessed# the results showed the maximum flux of 57 lit/m2 which could be due to the pore wetting of the membrane in the presence of surfactant#