Preparation of hydrophobic porous membranes and their application to pervaporation and membrane distillation

Abstract

In the present work, poly(4-methyl-1-pentene) (TPX) was used to prepare hydrophobic microporous membranes, and the application of the prepared membranes to pervaporation and osmotic distillation was also investigated. Since TPX is a polymer with high degree of crystallinity, solid-liquid demixing should be taken into consideration during membrane formation. By using suitable coagulant, such as propanol, particulate TPX membranes with inter-connected pores can thus be successfully fabricated. By adjusting the coagulation environment, the pore size of the porous TPX membrane can be tailored. Experiments were performed to evaluate the performance of the prepared membranes in pervaporation and osmotic distillation. The results indicate that the performance of the microporous TPX membranes prepared in the present work is comparable to that of the commercial PTFE membranes.