Preparation and Characterization of Hydrophobic Porous Yttria-stabilized Zirconia Hollow Fiber for Water Desalination

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1077.2013.12322

Abstract

Abstract:

Porous yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) hollow fibers with an outer diameter of 1.92 mm, membrane thickness of 0.21 mm were prepared by a combined technique of phase inversion and sintering. The hollow fiber possessed a sandwich structure with long-finger like voids near the inner and outer walls and a thin porous sponge-like layer in the center. The porosity and average pore size of the YSZ hollow fiber were determined to be 54% and 0.56 μm, respectively. The surface of the hollow fiber was converted from hydrophilic to hydrophobic by grafting with fluoroalkylsilane (FAS). The as-prepared hydrophobic YSZ hollow fiber exhibited desired water desalination performance operating in the vacuum membrane distillation (VMD). A water flux as high as 48.3 L/(m²•h)was attained with a salt rejection of over 99.7% by exposing the shell side of the fiber to an aqueous solution of 4wt% NaCl at 80℃ and vacuuming the lumen side to a pressure of 4×10³Pa. The membrane distillation performance of the hydrophobic porous YSZ hollow fiber is comparable to the best of polymer membrane, which is promising for water desalination application.

Key words: yttrium-stabilized zirconia, hollow fiber, microstructure, membrane distillation

CLC Number:

TQ174

SHANG Shuang-Yin, FANG Hong, REN Chun-Lei, YANG Ping-Hua, CHEN Chu-Sheng. Preparation and Characterization of Hydrophobic Porous Yttria-stabilized Zirconia Hollow Fiber for Water Desalination[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2013, 28(4): 393-397.

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 SEM images of the YSZ hollow fiber

Fig. 2 Pore size distribution of the sintered YSZ hollow fiber membrane

Fig. 3 Water contact angle of YSZ membrane with water

Fig. 4 N2 permeance and pure water flux of the membrane before and after grafting with FAS

Fig. 5 Membrane distillation water desalination performance of FAS-grafted YSZ hollow fiber

Table 1 Separation performance of several kinds of membranes for desalination

Application*	Membrane material	Membrane morphology	Feed solution	Water permeation flux /(L·m^-2·h^-1)	Reference
VMD	YSZ	hollow fiber	4wt% NaCl solution, 70℃	35.4	This work
VMD	Alumina	hollow fiber	4wt% NaCl solution, 70℃	30.9	[4]
VMD	Si₃N₄	hollow fiber	4wt% NaCl solution, 70℃	22.3	[5]

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