Organo-silica membrane for brine water pervaporation

Abstract

Pervaporation is currently used for brine water desalination. This high water salt content may impact the environment if it may not be treated. So, in this paper demonstrates the performance of organo-silca membrane to produce potable water from brine water. Organo-silica membrane was employed by sol gel process for 3 hours using tetra orthosilicate (TEOS) as precursor as well as dual catalyzed (organo catalyst/citric acid) and base (ammonia) on reflux temperature of 0°C. The molar ratios were 1:38:0.0007:5:003 for TEOS:EtOH:Citric Acid:H2O:NH3. Organo-silica membrane was applied in various artificial brine water (7.5-15 wt % NaCl) operated at 40 and 60°C as feed temperatures. The citric acid was chosen as carbon source to increase the carbon chains in the silica matrices. It was found that the water flux was increased as the feed temperature also increased from 40°C (1.27 kg.m2.h−1) to 60°C (1.55 kg.m2.h−1). Organo–silica membranes can produce water with a salt rejection of >90%.