Pervaporative Desalination of Water Using Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose / Polyvinylpyrrolidone Blend Membranes

Abstract

The pervaporation is a promising process to achieve highly efficient desalination performance. In this study, Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) polymers were chosen in the synthesis of blend membranes and used for pervaporative desalination process. The chemical structure and thermal stability of membranes were analyzed by using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. The effects of PVP ratio in membrane and operation temperature on the flux and salt rejection were examined. The highest separation efficiency was acquired as water flux of 4.86 kg/m2h and a salt rejection of 99.9% using 50 wt% PVP ratio at 40 °C. The obtained results show that HPMC/PVP blend membrane has a great potential for water desalination via pervaporation.