ABSTRACT:In this research, polyethersulfone (PES)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) blend ultrafiltration hollow fiber membranes were prepared via phase inversion induced by a dry-jet wet spinning process. The membranes were characterized by water contact measurements, scanning electron microscopy analysis and permeability measurements, and fouling-resistance measurements. The results show that water contacts of the membranes are enhanced by increasing the PAN content in the spinning dope. The results of an experimental study on separation of oil from oily wastewaters are presented. The results demonstrated that the prepared PES membranes are effective in removing chemical oxygen demand (80.6%), total organic carbon (89.3%), turbidity (99.3%), total suspended solid (100%), and oil and grease content (99.7%), and final permeation flux of about 73.5 L/m 2 h. Also, it was found that 75/25 wt% of PES/PAN have higher mechanical strength and good separation performance. Hermia's models were used for prediction of the decline in permeation flux. Experimental data and models predictions were compared. The results showed that there is reasonable agreement between experimental data and the cake layer model followed by the intermediate blocking model. C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Technol 2015; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com.