Produced Water Treatment by Using Nanofibrous Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membrane in Air Gap Membrane Distillation

Abstract

The removal of oil from produced water is one of the main environmental topics in oil and gas reservoir exploitations and industrial operations. In this study, a new method was introduced for efficient and cost effective treatment of produced water by using nanofibrous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) in air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) process. The PVDF membrane was fabricated through electrospinning technique and characterized by means of various methods such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), liquid entry pressure (LEP) test, gas permeation and contact angle goniometry. The prepared membranes were tested for permeation flux and oil separation efficiency in AGMD process. The results indicate that the optimally modified membrane yields high permeate flux of around 17.5 kg/m2h and total oil removal efficiency of 99.9 % compared to commercial membranes.