Membrane distillation (MD) is a non-isothermal process considered as an eco-friendly alternative for water treatment applications mainly in desalination. MD membranes must meet demanding specifications, among which hydrophobicity and microporosity stand out. The current challenge in membrane engineering is to prepare suitable and sustainable MD membranes. Polymeric membranes are commonly prepared by nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) technique and electrospinning, where green chemistry must be implemented without negatively affecting the MD membrane performance.

In this project, prior membrane preparation, the composition of the polymeric solution is chosen by carrying out rheological, along with thermodynamic and kinetic experiments with different green solvent mixtures. Both flat-sheet and hollow fiber membranes are prepared by NIPS technique. If highly porous membranes are required, electrospun nanofibrous membranes are preferred.

The morphology and the properties of the prepared membranes are studied by different characterization techniques, and direct contact MD experiments are conducted to evaluate the membrane performance.

The adopted green methodologies prove to be suitable for MD membrane preparation.