Sustainable preparation of PVDF-based membranes with tailored properties Teresa Poerio*, Enrica Fontananova*, Carmen Meringolo, Teresa Fina Mastropietro, Gianluca Di Profio National Research Council of Italy, Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM-CNR), Via P. Bucci Cubo 17/C, at University of Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy t.poerio@itm.cnr.it, e.fontananova@itm.cnr Polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) is one of the most used polymer as artificial membrane material [1]. However, many drawbacks are still involved in the PVDF membrane production that usually imply the use of toxic and harmful solvents to dissolve the polymer [2]. In this work a sustainable and scalable preparation method was developed to produce hydrophobic PVDF based membranes using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as green solvent and a combination of vapor-induced phase separation (VIPS) and non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS). During VIPS process the adsorption of water vapors (water is a non-solvent for the polymer) permits to modulate the surface properties in terms of roughness, porosity, pore size, surface wettability and transport properties [3]. The NIPS step completes the membrane formation by immersion of the casted film in a liquid water coagulation bath. We found that the VIPS process is mandatory to obtain super-hydrophobic membranes. VIPS process allows to obtain porous and rough surface by a slow and controlled diffusion of the water vapor phase into the casted membrane. The membranes properties were tailored acting on the polymer concentration, film thickness and VIPS conditions (duration and air humidity content). The membranes produced were tested in membrane distillation process showing high performance in terms of flux and rejection. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the European Union's Horizon 2020, Future and Emerging Technologies programme FET-OPEN, for funding this work within the AMECRYS project (http://www.amecrys-project.eu/) under grant agreement no. 712965. REFERENCES [1] Z. Cui, E. Drioli and Y. M. Lee, Prog. Polym. Sci. 2014, 39, 164- 198 [2] C. Meringolo, T. F. Mastropietro, T. Poerio, E. Fontananova, G. De Filpo, E. Curcio, Gianluca Di Profio, Sustainable preparation of customized macroporous PVDF membranes, Submitted. [3] G. Di Profio, E. Fontananova, E. Curcio, E. Drioli, Crystal Growth and Design 2012, 12, 3749-3757.
Sustainable preparation of PVDF-based membranes with tailored properties
Teresa Poerio;Enrica Fontananova;Gianluca Di Profio
2018
Abstract
Sustainable preparation of PVDF-based membranes with tailored properties Teresa Poerio*, Enrica Fontananova*, Carmen Meringolo, Teresa Fina Mastropietro, Gianluca Di Profio National Research Council of Italy, Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM-CNR), Via P. Bucci Cubo 17/C, at University of Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy t.poerio@itm.cnr.it, e.fontananova@itm.cnr Polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) is one of the most used polymer as artificial membrane material [1]. However, many drawbacks are still involved in the PVDF membrane production that usually imply the use of toxic and harmful solvents to dissolve the polymer [2]. In this work a sustainable and scalable preparation method was developed to produce hydrophobic PVDF based membranes using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as green solvent and a combination of vapor-induced phase separation (VIPS) and non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS). During VIPS process the adsorption of water vapors (water is a non-solvent for the polymer) permits to modulate the surface properties in terms of roughness, porosity, pore size, surface wettability and transport properties [3]. The NIPS step completes the membrane formation by immersion of the casted film in a liquid water coagulation bath. We found that the VIPS process is mandatory to obtain super-hydrophobic membranes. VIPS process allows to obtain porous and rough surface by a slow and controlled diffusion of the water vapor phase into the casted membrane. The membranes properties were tailored acting on the polymer concentration, film thickness and VIPS conditions (duration and air humidity content). The membranes produced were tested in membrane distillation process showing high performance in terms of flux and rejection. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the European Union's Horizon 2020, Future and Emerging Technologies programme FET-OPEN, for funding this work within the AMECRYS project (http://www.amecrys-project.eu/) under grant agreement no. 712965. REFERENCES [1] Z. Cui, E. Drioli and Y. M. Lee, Prog. Polym. Sci. 2014, 39, 164- 198 [2] C. Meringolo, T. F. Mastropietro, T. Poerio, E. Fontananova, G. De Filpo, E. Curcio, Gianluca Di Profio, Sustainable preparation of customized macroporous PVDF membranes, Submitted. [3] G. Di Profio, E. Fontananova, E. Curcio, E. Drioli, Crystal Growth and Design 2012, 12, 3749-3757.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
