The invention provides a method of producing multi-walled carbon nanotube blended polyvinylidene fluoride (MWCNTs/PVDF) membranes for membrane distillation (MD) treatment of saline water using non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS), said method including mixing two solvents with different solubility parameters and the use of a dual coagulation bath system to control the formation of membrane pore structures and enhance surface hydrophobicity whereby blended PVDF membranes are produced for application in MD processes.

Membranes for membrane distillation (MD) and forward osmosis (FO) are provided with methods of manufacture and use thereof. The MD membrane comprises a microporous mat of electrospun nanofibers made of a nanocomposite comprising reduced graphene oxide dispersed in a hydrophobic polymer with their surface grafted with a silane coupling agent or with hydrophobic nanoparticles. The FO membrane comprises a microporous support layer and a rejection layer formed on one side of the support layer, wherein the support layer is a microporous mat of electrospun nanofibers made of a nanocomposite of hydrophilic nanoparticles dispersed in a hydrophilic polymer, and the rejection layer is made of nanocomposite of hydrophilic nanoparticles dispersed in a crosslinked meta-aramid of formula (I). There is also provided a process for treating a high-salinity and/or high-strength feed, such as fracking wastewater, comprising microfiltration or ultrafiltration, followed by forward osmosis, and then membrane distillation.

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Provided is a membrane distillation module 100 comprising a membrane distillation membrane cartridge 10 and a membrane distillation housing 20, wherein: the membrane cartridge 10 comprises a membrane anchoring part 12 in which porous membranes 11 are anchored by anchoring resin; the housing 20 comprises a housing body 30 and a housing lid 40; the membrane distillation module 100 comprises a support part 60 where the outer surface of the membrane anchoring part 12 is supported by the inner surface of the housing 20 with a seal member 50 interposed therebetween; and a value C in the cross section of the support part 60 is at least 30° C. as represented by the following formula, where d.sub.F is the equivalent circular diameter (mm) of the outer circumference of the membrane anchoring part 12, k.sub.F is the linear expansion coefficient (1/° C.) of the anchoring resin, d.sub.E is the equivalent circular diameter (mm) of the inner circumference of the housing 20; and k.sub.E is the linear expansion coefficient (1/° C.) of a portion where the housing 20 contacts the seal member 50.

This disclosure provides an integrated system and method for producing purified water, hydrogen, and oxygen from contaminated water. The contaminated water may be derived from regolith-based resources on the moon, Mars, near-Earth asteroids, or other destination in outer space. The integrated system and method utilize a cold trap to receive the contaminated water in a vapor phase and selectively freeze out water from one or more volatiles. A heat source increases temperature in the cold trap to vaporize the frozen contaminated water to produce a gas stream of water vapor and volatiles. A chemical scrubber may remove one or more volatiles. The integrated system and method utilize ionomer membrane technology to separate the water vapor from remaining volatiles. The water vapor is delivered for crew use or delivered to an electrolyzer to produce hydrogen and oxygen.

A photothermal distillation membrane including a polydopamine (PDA) coated, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane is disclosed, as well as a process for synthesizing same. A photothermal aerogel membrane including a polydopamine (PDA)-containing bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is also disclosed, as well as a process for synthesizing same.

A mathematical model was developed to lead to the design of a novel membrane, which can operate in membrane distillation at a small trans-membrane temperature gradient, including at low feed water temperature range. The novel membrane design can be described as a super-hydrophobic nano-porous/micro-porous composite membrane. This membrane will significantly decrease the energy requirements of the MD process since it can operate at very low inlet feed temperatures.

This Desalination Distillation Commercial Power Generation invention is powered by Hydrogen and Oxygen produced thru electrolysis. Present art desalination plants either use desalination distillation Or Reverse Osmosis. Both methods require large amounts of electrical power. This invention uses desalination distillation. In this method, oceanwater is boiled and steamed then cooled down back to clean water while in the process producing electricity.

Electrolysis is the process of breaking water (H2O) to its molecular atoms of Hydrogen gas and Oxygen gas. Using Clean Purified water (which is similar to Distilled Water) is the most efficient way to produce hydrogen. This invention will produce Clean Water and generate commercial electricity.

A membrane sorbent is described, which comprises 1 - 6 wt% silicon carbide nanoparticles dispersed in a polymer matrix. The polymer matrix may comprise polysulfone and polyvinylpyrrolidone. The membrane sorbent is used for separating oil from a contaminated water mixture. The silicon carbide nanoparticles of the membrane sorbent may be made from rice husk ash.

The invention relates to an autonomous system for purification of water by membrane distillation. The invention also relates to the use of a membrane distillation module in a system. The invention furthermore relates to a method of operation a system for purification of water by membrane distillation.

Exemplary embodiments in desalination by direct contact membrane distillation present a cylindrical cross-flow module containing high-flux composite hydrophobic hollow fiber membranes. The present embodiments are directed to a model that has been developed to describe the observed water production rates of such devices in multiple brine feed introduction configurations. The model describes the observed water vapor production rates for different feed brine temperatures at various feed brine flow rates. The model flux predictions have been explored over a range of hollow fiber lengths to compare the present results with those obtained earlier from rectangular modules which had significantly shorter hollow fibers.