Ceramic membrane fouling during ultrafiltration of oil/water emulsions: Roles played by stabilization surfactants of oil droplets

Dongwei Lu, Tao Zhang, Jun Ma

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

149 Scopus citations

Abstract

Oil/water (O/W) emulsion stabilized by surfactants is the part of oily wastewater that is most difficult to handle. Ceramic membrane ultrafiltration presently is an ideal process to treat O/W emulsions. However, little is known about the fouling mechanism of the ceramic membrane during O/W emulsion treatment. This paper investigated how stabilization surfactants of O/W emulsions influence the irreversible fouling of ceramic membranes during ultrafiltration. An unexpected phenomenon observed was that irreversible fouling was much less when the charge of the stabilization surfactant of O/W emulsions is opposite to the membrane. The less ceramic membrane fouling in this case was proposed to be due to a synergetic steric effect and demulsification effect which prevented the penetration of oil droplets into membrane pores and led to less pore blockage. This proposed mechanism was supported by cross section images of fouled and virgin ceramic membranes taken with scanning electron microscopy, regression results of classical fouling models, and analysis of organic components rejected by the membrane. Furthermore, this mechanism was also verified by the existence of a steric effect and demulsification effect. Our finding suggests that ceramic membrane oppositely charged to the stabilization surfactant should be applied in ultrafiltration of O/W emulsions to alleviate irreversible membrane fouling. It could be a useful rule for ceramic membrane ultrafiltration of oily wastewater. © 2015 American Chemical Society.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)4235-4244
Number of pages10
JournalEnvironmental Science & Technology
Volume49
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 11 2015

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: The authors want to thank King Abdullah University of Science and Technology for providing internship support to D. Lu, Daqing Oilfield Company of China, for providing crude oil and diesel samples. This research is also partly support by Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51378141).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Environmental Chemistry
  • General Chemistry

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