Abstract
In this study, an energy and highly time efficient, cost effective, and scalable forward osmosis (FO) composite polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane is developed to concentrate lithium chloride recovered from naturally occurring geothermal brine resources. Dense thin robust defect-free Kynar-PVDF membranes are fabricated on porous PVDF hollow fiber supports. Various membrane fabrication parameters such as membrane thickness, coating solution concentration, cross-linker concentration, and curing temperature are studied to develop a defect-free dense membrane. Advanced characterization tools such as FIB-SEM, Raman, FTIR spectroscopy, and XRD are used to study the surface and cross-sectional morphology, chemistry of crosslinking, crystallinity and chemical structure of the dense PVDF membrane. FO is utilized to concentrate LiCl in the solution from 36 to 175 g L−1 with an average water transfer rate of 0.450 L m−2 h−1 (LMH) at 85 °C. Furthermore, the membrane showed stable performance for more than 550 h while maintaining the purity of the concentrated lithium chloride solution of >99.99 wt%. The results suggest that the FO-based technology is an innovative, time and energy efficient approach compared to the conventional technologies for concentration of battery grade LiCl for application in lithium ion batteries and other clean energy technologies.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 2000165 |
Journal | Advanced Sustainable Systems |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2020 |
Funding
P.W. and S.Z.I. contributed equally to this work. This research/work was supported by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office. Authors thank Walter P. Kosar and Arkema Inc. for the PVDF supports and Kynar solutions. SEM imaging was conducted at ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility. Authors thank James Burns for SEM images. S.F.E. is grateful for a fellowship from the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Graduate Education. The authors acknowledge the extensive support in experimental and characterization activities provided by Dale Adcock, Lawrence E. Powell, and Jagjit Nanda. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. This article has been contributed to by US Government contractors and their work is in the public domain in the USA. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). P.W. and S.Z.I. contributed equally to this work. This research/work was supported by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office. Authors thank Walter P. Kosar and Arkema Inc. for the PVDF supports and Kynar solutions. SEM imaging was conducted at ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility. Authors thank James Burns for SEM images. S.F.E. is grateful for a fellowship from the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Graduate Education. The authors acknowledge the extensive support in experimental and characterization activities provided by Dale Adcock, Lawrence E. Powell, and Jagjit Nanda. This manuscript has been authored by UT‐Battelle LLC under Contract No. DE‐AC05‐00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. This article has been contributed to by US Government contractors and their work is in the public domain in the USA. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe‐public‐access‐plan ).
Keywords
- PVDF
- forward osmosis
- lithium
- membranes
- separation