Ceramic membrane distillation for desalination

Abstract

Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermally driven membranous process and in the recent years, it has received increasing attention in desalination. Generally, polymeric membranes have dominated the MD studies due to their intrinsic hydrophobic properties and high availability. On the other hand, the development of ceramic membranes for MD desalination is developing, gradually replacing their polymeric counterparts due to superior properties in terms of thermal, chemical and mechanical stabilities, as well as potentially longer service terms. This review describes and evaluates the fabrication methods of ceramic membranes as well as discusses the latest discoveries of ceramic membranes for MD desalination. Despite outstanding properties, the efforts in developing ceramic membranes as a replacement for polymeric membranes in MD desalination are meeting challenges and obstacles; hence, in the last part of this article, the current challenges and future research opportunities of ceramic membrane development will also be addressed.