Sareh Kheirieh - Department of Chemical Engineering, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Morteza Asghari - Separation Processes Research Group (SPRG), Department of Engineering, University of Kashan, Kashan, P.O. Box ۸۷۳۱۷-۵۱۱۶۷, Iran

The PVDF, Graphene flat-sheet membranes for VMD were prepared through wet phase inversion process. The degassed dope solution was coated on a glass plate at room temperature with a knife gap of 0.2 mm. Experiments have been conducted in three temperatures about 30°C, 40°C and 50°C and then permeation measurement showed that the maximum permeation obtained by the feed temperature of 50°C which was 1.364 (kg/m2.h). From the SEM analysis figure of cross section clearly shows the finger like macro voids and dense sponge like structure, and the thickness of the PVDF membrane is slightly less than another membrane and the pore size of this membrane is more than PVDF-Graphene membrane. So the neat PVDF membrane has produced more permeate flux. FT-IR analysis showed that the C-H, C-C and C-F groups in PVDF, and also C-C and C꞊C links in graphene.

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), membranes, Desalination, vacuum membrane distillation (VMD),