Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID OK_2023_Sallam

Improving Membrane Distillation Technology by Controlling Hydrophobicity of Microporous Membrane

Institute: Oklahoma
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2023-09-01 End Date: 2024-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $4,946 Total Non-Federal Funds: $4,953

Principal Investigators: Khaled Sallam

Project Summary: The goal of this work is to improve a process called membrane distillation (MD) by coming up with a new way to control how microporous membranes resist water. MD is a way to clean water by heating it, turning it into vapor, and then putting the vapor through a filter that doesn't let water through. The goal of the study is to find out how the force caused by spinning affects how saltwater droplets interact with the filters. The researchers will find out how fast the filter needs to spin to change the way water drops stick to it. This study could help make MD methods that are better, cheaper, and better for the environment by finding the right spinning speed to keep the filter from getting wet. This could help solve water shortages problems by making it easier to treat water.