Article
Delamination-Free In-Air and Underwater Oil-Repellent Filters for Oil-Water Separation: Gravity-Driven and Cross-Flow Operations
Energies
(2021)
Abstract
Separating oil-water mixtures is critical in a variety of practical applications, including the treatment of industrial wastewater, oil spill cleanups, as well as the purification of petroleum products. Among various methodologies that have been utilized, membranes are the most attractive technology for separating oil-water emulsions. In recent years, selective wettability membranes have attracted particular attention for oil-water separations. The membrane surfaces with hydrophilic and in-air oleophobic wettability have demonstrated enhanced effectiveness for oil-water separations in comparison with underwater oleophobic membranes. However, developing a hydrophilic and in-air oleophobic surface for a membrane is not a trivial task. The coating delamination process is a critical challenge when applying these membranes for separations. Inspired by the above, in this study we utilize poly(ethylene glycol)diacrylate (PEGDA) and 1H,1H,2H,2H-heptadecafluorodecyl acrylate (F-acrylate) to fabricate a hydrophilic and in-air oleophobic coating on a filter. We utilize methacryloxypropyl trimethoxysilane (MEMO) as an adhesion promoter to enhance the adhesion of the coating to the filter. The filter demonstrates robust oil repellency preventing oil adhesion and oil fouling. Utilizing the filter, gravity-driven and continuous separations of surfactant-stabilized oil-water emulsions are demonstrated. Finally, we demonstrate that the filter can be reused multiple times upon rinsing for further oil-water separations.
Keywords
- Surfactant-stabilized oil-water emulsions,
- In-air and underwater oleophobic filter,
- Gravity-driven oil-water separation,
- Coating robustness
Disciplines
Publication Date
November 8, 2021
DOI
10.3390/en14217429
Publisher Statement
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Citation Information
Bishwash Shrestha, M. Amin Ezazi and Gibum Kwon. "Delamination-Free In-Air and Underwater Oil-Repellent Filters for Oil-Water Separation: Gravity-Driven and Cross-Flow Operations" Energies Vol. 14 Iss. 21 (2021) ISSN: 1996-1073 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/mohammadamin-ezazi/4/