Electro-Enhanced Rapid Separation of Nanosized Oil Droplets from Emulsions Via the Superhydrophilic Micro-Sized Pore Membrane

作     者：Zheng, Weiwei Xu, Jingcheng Wang, Liya Zhang, Jialu Chu, Wenhai Liu, Jia Lu, Lijun Cai, Chen Peng, Kaiming Huang, Xiangfeng 

作者机构：College of Environmental Science and Engineering State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment Tongji University 1239 Siping Road Shanghai200092 China Institution of Carbon Neutrality Tongji University Shanghai China Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security Tongji University Shanghai China 

出 版 物：《SSRN》 

年 卷 期：2022年

核心收录：

主　　题：Drops 

摘      要：Waste oil-in-water emulsion is a special and hard-treated oily wastewater produced by several industries. Based on the sieving effect, the use of a membrane is a promising method to separate emulsion, whereas low flux remains a fundamental challenge. In this study, the coupling of an electric field with superhydrophilic fibrous membranes helped separate micro-/nano-emulsions (247–1887 nm) stabilized by a surfactant (100–500 mg/L) with a general applicability. The micro-sized pore membrane (0.634 μm) achieved outstanding rejection of nano-sized oil droplets (247 nm) using an electric field to promote flux (1,202 to 18,388 LMH/bar by 1,429%) and improve effluent quality (oil removal from 97.61% to 99.88%). The reduction of equivalent pore size of membrane by the repulsion of the electrical double layer (EDL) and the promotion of coalescence of oil droplets driven by the Laplace force rooted in the fibrous spindle of the membrane achieved enhanced selectivity. Electrophoretic force and repulsion of EDL mitigated the formation of the filter cake and irreversible fouling, respectively, to promote permeability and antifouling. This research provides a method for the simultaneous promotion of flux and improvement in effluent quality using an electric field, which breaks the limit of the trade-off effect. © 2022, The Authors. All rights reserved.