报告题目：Developing Anti-wetting and Anti-fouling Membranes for Membrane Distillation with Challenging Applications

报告    人：Dr. Shihong Lin（林士弘）

                     Assistant Professor in Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University, US.

时        间：2016年12月21日（周三）上午10：00

地         点：中山大学东校园环境大楼A206

主        持：李传浩 教授

欢迎广大师生参加!

报告内容简介：

Membrane distillation (MD) is an emerging membrane-based thermal distillation process capable of utilizing low-grade thermal energy to desalinate hypersaline brine. Several distinct advantages of MD render it a potentially competitive unit process for challenging applications such as frack wastewater desalination, zero liquid discharge, and brine volume reduction for inland reverse osmosis. Conventional MD processes utilize a hydrophobic membrane as a barrier for liquid transfer and a medium for vapor transfer. However, hydrophobic membranes are highly susceptible to wetting by amphiphilic contaminants or/and to fouling by hydrophobic contaminants, which constraints MD to desalination of relatively clean saline water. In this talk, we will discuss the development of novel MD membranes with special wetting properties, including omniphobic membranes and composite membranes with in-air-superhydrophilic and underwater-oleophobic surface, to enable MD for treating feed waters with surfactants and/or oil. The fabrication, characterization, and performance testing of these membranes will be presented and discussed. Using MD experiments and oil probe force spectroscopy, we will elucidate the impacts of several surface properties on the anti-fouling performance of composite membranes. Finally, we will also provide a holistic perspective regarding the fouling and wetting resistances of hydrophobic, omniphobic, and composite membranes, including in the case where fouling and wetting agents are simultaneously present.