Fouling-Resistant Membranes for Treating Concentrated Brines for Water Reuse in Advanced Energy Systems- Final Technical Report
- RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)
The high total dissolved solids (TDS) levels in the wastewater quality generated from unconventional oil and gas development make the current state-of-the art approach to water treatment/disposal untenable. Our proposed membrane technology approach addresses the two major challenges associated with this water: 1) the membrane distillation process removes the high TDS content, which is often 8 times higher than that of seawater, and 2) our novel membrane coating prevents the formation of scale that would otherwise pose a significant operational hurdle. This is accomplished through next-generation electrically conductive membranes that mitigate fouling beyond what is currently possible, and allow for the flexibility to treat to the water to levels desirable for multiple reuse options, thus reducing fresh water withdrawal, all the way to direct disposal into the environment. The overall project objective was to demonstrate the efficacy of membrane distillation (MD) as a cost-savings technology to treat concentrated brines (such as, but not limited to, produced waters generated from fossil fuel extraction) that have high levels of TDS for beneficial water reuse in power production and other industrial operations as well as agricultural and municipal water uses. In addition, a novel fouling-resistant nanocomposite membrane was developed to reduce the need for chemicals to address membrane scaling due to the precipitation of divalent ions in high-TDS waters and improve overall MD performance via an electrically conductive membrane distillation process (ECMD). This anti-fouling membrane technology platform is based on incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into the surface layer of existing, commercially available MD membranes. The CNTs impart electrical conductivity to the membrane surface to prevent membrane scaling and fouling when an electrical potential is applied.
- Research Organization:
- National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV (United States); RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE); Veolia Water Technologies, Cary, NC (United States); Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FE0024074
- OSTI ID:
- 1430092
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-RTI-FE0024074-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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