ABSTRACT
Given the growing water scarcity problem, desalination of seawater offers a promising solution for obtaining potable water. While various methods have been used in the past, membrane technology remains the leading approach. However, challenges persist, including high operational costs, limited membrane durability, and susceptibility to fouling, which require effective management solutions. Graphene oxide membrane desalination and solar desalination have made substantial advancements in converting salt water into fresh water in recent years. This study utilized artificial sea water (ASW) derived from different salt mixes as the primary source for desalination. Two filters were prepared with cotton fabric and conductive graphene sheets, layer by layer. This experimental approach of stacked layer filtration (SLF) desalination demonstrated favorable outcomes, as an outcome of chloride removal has been achieved in all samples. When using ASW samples diluted at a ratio of 20:1, SLF-I was able to remove 42.86% of chloride, whereas SLF-II removed 57.14%. It was observed that the fabric could be cleansed by hand to remove salts that had accumulated as a result of evaporation, thereby making it reusable. At the same time, no swelling was observed in the conductive graphene sheet.
Abbreviations
ASTM | = | American Society for Testing and Materials |
ASW | = | Artificial Sea Water |
CGS | = | Conductive Graphene Sheets |
CF | = | Cotton Fabric |
EC | = | Electrical Conductivity |
EDTA | = | Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid |
G | = | Graphene |
GO | = | Graphene Oxide |
RO | = | Reverse Osmosis |
SLF | = | Staked Layer Filtration |
SEM | = | Scanning electron microscope |
TDS | = | Total Dissolved Solids |
Nomenclature | = | |
2D | = | Two dimensional |
Cl− | = | Chlorides |
g | = | Gravitational force |
h | = | Height of the water level |
P | = | Pressure, Pa |
V | = | Volume |
Greek letters | = | |
ρ | = | Density |
Acknowledgments
The authors are very thankful to SRMIST for providing the instrumentation facilities.
Disclosure statement
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Author contributions
V.M.V.S.K. (Ph.D. student) did the Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Validation & Writing-Original Draft. K.P. (Associate Professor) did the Supervision, Validation, and Writing – Review & Editing.