Production of drinking water from saline water by air-gap membrane distillation using polyvinylidene fluoride nanofiber membrane

Polyvinylidene fluoride nanofiber membrane could be used in membrane distillation (MD) to produce drinking water (NaCl concentration <280ppm) from a saline water of NaCl concentration 6wt.% by air-gap membrane distillation. This was the first attempt to use electro-spun nanofiber membrane in MD. This new approach may eventually enable the MD process to compete with conventional seawater desalination processes such as distillation and reverse osmosis. Crown Copyright (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.