Designing of nanotextured inorganic-organic hybrid PVDF membrane for efficient separation of the oil-in-water emulsions

Nadeem Baig; Abdulaziz Mohammed Alowaid; Ismail Abdulazeez; Billel Salhi; Muhammad Sajid; Irshad Kammakakam

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136531

Designing of nanotextured inorganic-organic hybrid PVDF membrane for efficient separation of the oil-in-water emulsions

Chemosphere. 2022 Dec;308(Pt 3):136531. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136531. Epub 2022 Sep 20.

Authors

Nadeem Baig¹, Abdulaziz Mohammed Alowaid², Ismail Abdulazeez³, Billel Salhi³, Muhammad Sajid⁴, Irshad Kammakakam⁵

Affiliations

¹ Interdisciplinary Research Center for Membranes and Water Security, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: nadeembaig@kfupm.edu.sa.
² Chemical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia.
³ Interdisciplinary Research Center for Membranes and Water Security, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Center for Environment and Water, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Division of Physical Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: irshadk31@gmail.com.

PMID: 36150483
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136531

Abstract

The separation of the emulsified oil/water is one of the critical environmental challenges. The PVDF membranes have been found helpful for separation, but rapid fouling makes them less attractive in treating oil-in-water emulsions. The design of antifouling membranes has become an area of deep interest. Herein, developing a novel modified PVDF ultrafiltration membrane was reported by doping the pyrrole and solidifying it in a ferric-containing coagulation bath, resulting in a unique nanotextured PVDF membrane (CCB-Fe/PP_np-PVDF) to separate the oil/water emulsions. The resultant CCB-Fe/PP_np-PVDF membrane was thoroughly characterized using the FTIR, FE-SEM, EDX, mapping, AFM, and contact analyzer. The hydrophilicity of the CCB-Fe/PP_np-PVDF was substantially improved, and the water contact angle was reduced from 81֯ ± 0.9֯ to 44֯ ± 1.7֯. The CCB-Fe/PPnp-PVDF membrane flux increased by 121% compared to the pristine PVDF membrane, with high separation efficiency of 99%. The hydrophilic nanotextured surface of the CCB-Fe/PP_np-PVDF membrane showed good antifouling behavior, with a flux recovery ratio (FRR) of more than 96%. Irreversible flux was just less than 4%. The high flux recovery ratio indicated that the nanotextured surface produced by the Fe/PP_np had prevented the blockage of the membrane pores and compact cake layer formation, which makes it an excellent membrane for oil/water emulsion separation. This strategy can be adopted for designing advanced membranes for separation applications.

Keywords: Antifouling; Environment; Organic contaminants; Separation; Wastewater; Water.

MeSH terms

Emulsions
Fluorocarbon Polymers
Membranes, Artificial*
Polyvinyls
Pyrroles
Water Purification* / methods

Substances

Emulsions
Fluorocarbon Polymers
Membranes, Artificial
Polyvinyls
Pyrroles
polyvinylidene fluoride