Underwater capillary discharge on the penetrability of a membrane

This paper presents the enhancement of membrane penetrability by means of a discharge in water. The system is composed of an underwater capillary discharge to produce the various plasma species containing OH, O, H, Na+, Cl-, ClO-, Cl-2, etc., and a membrane for water filtration. We investigate the capillary discharge membrane system to treat the microorganisms and particles in seawater simultaneously. We also report the effects of the underwater capillary discharge on the membrane flux. The plasma by-products also depend on the discharge polarity significantly. Eventually, we expect that the hybrid system may be promising tool for sterilization of microorganisms and removal of particles in water. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.