Solar Driven Membrane Distillation in the Removal of Phenol from Industrial Wastewater

Abstract

As the world’s population continues to increase, so does energy demand. Currently, the oil and gas industry is considered the largest supply to the world’s energy demand. Consequently, they produce effluent water containing phenol. Phenol is a highly toxic chemical with major effects on human health. Thus, it is consequential to establish an energy efficient process to treat phenol wastewater generated from the oil and gas industry. An air gap membrane distillation process has been suggested to treat phenol wastewater. Modified polyvinylidene fluoride membranes with activated carbon at varying concentrations (3%, 6%, 9%, and 12%) have been fabricated. They were tested using a solar simulated air gap membrane distillation process to determine their effectiveness in treating phenol wastewater. The membrane with optimized AC composition, which was PVDF-AC 12%, has then been tested against feedwater composition obtained from Ruwais, which is a refinery within the UAE. The results of the performance test reported a relatively high flux of 0.141 LMH while achieving a rejection of 97%. Additionally, it has been observed that present membrane can act as multifunctional membrane that possess 2 rejection mechanisms, which are membrane distillation and adsorption. Hence, the developed membranes present a viable, innovative and efficient method to treat phenol wastewater.

Date of Award	20 Dec 2023
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Faisal Almarzooqi (Supervisor)