(552f) Hydrophobic/Oleophilic Self-Assembly Monolayers (SAMs) Coating for Oil/Water Separation

Wastewater treatment and the waste valorization effort are critical to the chemical industry in general. Application and adoption of intensified process design and 3D-printed devices offer the prospect of revolutionizing the oil-water separation. A 3D-printed device that takes the advantage of potential reduced size, increased scalability of equipment, and process intensification through faster extraction and phase separation at a lower energy cost could be highly amenable towards modular chemical manufacturing. We developed a novel 3D-printed 2-dimensional plate device for oil-water phase separation by guiding the mixture flow through a capillary force gradient ‘field’. In addition, the device were coated with hydrophobic/oleophilic SAMs in order to improve the oil-water separation. Chloro(dodecyl)dimethylsilane solution was reacted with -OH groups on the surface of the device to achieve chemically crafter monolayer of alkylsilane. Water contact angles (WCA) of ~102 degrees and hexadecane contact angles (HCA) of ~3 degrees were achieved. Stability of current SAMs coating have been tested by washing the glass slides in different solvent such as Acetone, IPA and Vertel XF. WCA of 97, 96, and 88 degrees and HCA of 6, 7, 9 degrees were recorded, accordingly. Moreover, the durability of the surface coating have been tested through immersion tests in various mediums such as Produced water (Marcellus shale, Permian basin) and organic extraction solvents (70% Diethyl Succinate + 30% TBP and 1.5 M Di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) + 0.3 M TBP (exchangers) diluted in equal concentration of Kerozene (apolar diluent)). Excellent durability of the surface coating has been observed throughout the immersion tests up to 100 hours.