Evaluation of carbon nanofibers membrane on performance of Caspian seawater desalination

This study was aimed at investigating the effect of carboxylated carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on performanceof Caspian seawater desalination. At the first the forward osmosis (FO) membranes were synthesized and then modifiedFO membranes were tested in different FO experiments. The FO experiments were performed by Caspian seawater asa feed solution and 1 M NaCl solution as a draw solution. Also NaCl solution with different concentration were used asdraw solutions in FO tests. It is found that the hydrophilicity and porosity of the modified membranes due to existenceof hydrophilic functional groups in membrane structure play much stronger role in high water flux in FO desalinationcompared to the neat membrane.

Keywords:

Forward osmosis , Caspian seawater , Desalination , Carboxylated CNF