# Grafting of low cost ultrafiltration ceramic membrane by Tunisian olive oil molecules and application to air gap membrane distillation

Imen Derbel, Mouna Khemakhem, Sophie Annick Cerneaux, Marc Cretin, Raja Ben Amar

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Imen Derbel, Mouna Khemakhem, Sophie Annick Cerneaux, Marc Cretin, Raja Ben Amar. Grafting of low cost ultrafiltration ceramic membrane by Tunisian olive oil molecules and application to air gap membrane distillation. Desalination and Water Treatment, 2017, 82, pp.20-25. 10.5004/dwt.2017.20960. hal-03881898

HAL Id: hal-03881898

https://hal.science/hal-03881898

Submitted on 2 Dec 2022

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# Grafting of low cost ultrafiltration ceramic membrane by Tunisian olive oil molecules and application to air gap membrane distillation

I. Derbel<sup>a</sup>, M. Khemakhem<sup>a</sup>, S. Cerneaux<sup>b</sup>, M. Cretin<sup>b</sup>, R. Ben Amar<sup>a,*</sup>

Received 31 December 2016; Accepted 16 May 2017

## ABSTRACT

Grafting is probably one of the most important means to be considered in order to change the hydrophilic character of ceramic membranes into hydrophobic ones. In this context, the surface properties of a composite ultrafiltration membrane elaborated from the mud of hydrocyclone laundries of phosphates, having an average pore diameter of 11 nm and a layer thickness of around 9 µm, were chemically modified by grafting Tunisian olive oil molecules. Grafting process efficiency was characterized by contact angle measurements, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption/desorption method and membrane permeability. It was found that the contact angle value increases from 16° before grafting to 121° after grafting showing that grafting leads to high membrane hydrophobicity. The determination of water permeability shows a high decrease from 90 L/hm² bar to 7 L/hm² bar, before and after grafting, respectively. The new hydrophobic ceramic membrane seems to be promising in the field of membrane distillation using seawater desalination. The salt rejection obtained using grafted UF membrane was 99%.

Keywords: Ultrafiltration membrane; Grafting; Olive oil; Membrane distillation

<footnote><sup>a</sup>Laboratoire Sciences des Matériaux et Environnement, Université de Sfax, Faculté des sciences de Sfax, Rte. De Soukra Km 4, 3000 Sfax, Tunisia, email: imen.derbel88@yahoo.fr (I. Derbel), khemakhem.mouna@yahoo.com (M. Khemakhem), Tel. +216 74 276 400, +216 74 276 763, Fax +216 74 274437, email: raja.rekik@fss.rnu.tn (R.B. Amar)</footnote>

<footnote><sup>b</sup>Institut European des Membranes, UMR 5635 (CNRS-ENSCM-UM), Université de Montpellier, place Eugène Bataillon, 34095, Montpellier cedex 5, France, email: sophie.cerneaux@umontpellier.fr (S. Cerneaux), marc.cretin@umontpellier.fr (M. Cretin)</footnote>

<footnote>*Corresponding author.</footnote>