Pickering Emulsion-Templated Nanocomposite Membranes for Excellent Demulsification and Oil–Water Separation

Abstract

A worldwide steady increase in oily wastewater, due to oil spillage and various industrial discharges, requires immediate efforts toward development of an effective strategy and materials to preserve the natural water bodies. Designing a superwettable fibrous membrane of robust structure and anti-fouling property for efficient separation of oil-water mixtures and emulsions is therefore highly demanding. The electrospun fibrous membrane, which possesses porosity and flexibility and properties including superwettability and tunable functionality, can be considered as apposite materials for this cause. In this approach, we combined two strategies, viz., Pickering emulsion and near gel resin (nGR) emulsion electrospinning together to produce a fibrous nanocomposite membrane for efficient oil−water separation and demulsification. nGR Pickering emulsions were stabilized using hydrophilic SiO 2 nanoparticles and successfully optimized for fabricating the crosslinked core sheath-structured fibrous membrane. The prepared membrane provided twofold functionality due to the core sheath structure of the fibers. The crosslinked polystyrene core offered high oil adsorption capacity, whereas SiO 2 -functionalized crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol sheath provided a rough, superhydrophilic surface with underwater oleophobic behavior to the membrane. The optimized SiO 2 -Pickering emulsion-templated nanocomposite membrane demonstrated excellent underwater anti-oil adhesion behavior (UWOCA ∼148°) with efficient oil−water separation capacity of more than 99% and separation flux up to 3346 ± 91 L m −2 h −1 . The membrane was evaluated against various oil−water emulsions and found to have a superior separation efficiency. Moreover, excellent anti-oil adhesion property provided the intact membrane, where consistent separation performance was achieved up to 10 separation cycles without any loss. The membrane was used for separation of hot oil−water emulsions and showed no structural disintegration or loss in separation performance when exposed to elevated temperatures. The developed nanocomposite membranes could efficiently be used for separation and demulsification, and their applications can be explored in various other fields including selective sorption, catalysis, and storage in future.

Superhydrophilic Electrospun Polyamide-Imide Membranes for Efficient Oil/Water Separation under Gravity

“…It was observed that none of those oils adhered to the membrane surface, implying the versatility of the fabricated membranes in treating various oil emulsions. Such underwater superoleophobicity was ascribed to the formation of a strong hydration layer barrier that prevented the oil droplets from directly interacting with the membrane surface. , The repetitive underwater–oil contact experiment was performed on the EM2 membrane with n -hexane to assess the antifouling nature (Figure A). The membrane exhibited excellent antioil adhesion behavior with no oil stain on its surface.…”

Simply Prepared, Wood‐Based Solar Evaporators for Highly Effective Oily Wastewater Purification

“…PPT@Fe membrane Cetane-in-water 99.5 [33] PVA-TA@SiO 2 coated PTFE membrane Cetane-in-water 99.5 [34] PAAm-TA coated PVDF membrane Toluene-in-water 99.47 [35] Sr-MOF membrane Petrol-in-water 99 [36] Vitrimer epoxy resin membranes Heptane-in-water 98 [37] PNVF@PPM membranes Petrol-in-water 99.5 [38] CoP /SSM n-Hexane-in-water 99.1 [39] ANF/Wood membrane n-Dodecane-in-water 99.37 [2] PVDF-PES membrane Toluene-in-water 99.37 [40] MTNW membrane n-Hexane-in-water 99.60 [41] PI/SDBS membrane n-Hexane-in-water 98.90 [42] CA-DBD membrane Petroleum ether-in-water 99.60 [43] SiO 2 nanocomposite membrane n-Hexane-in-water 99.33 [44] BC composite paper Soybean oil-in-water 99.20 [45] MWCNTs-OH/L-D-Wood Silicone oil-in-water 99.86 This work…”

Prospects of mono cellulosic and cellulosic-glass hybrid fillers reinforced polypropylene composites

“…Wang et al [26], devised a novel strategy to enhance interfacial adhesion by altering both polypropylene (PP) and cellulose fibre. Maleic anhydride was applied through mechanochemical means to bond it onto PP, thereby enabling interaction with the reactive hydroxyl groups present on the surface of TEMPO-oxidized bamboo cellulose fibre (TBCF).…”