(531b) Three Types of Filter Media Produced from Electrospun Cellulose Acetate (Cac)-Polystyrene (PS) Composite Membrane for Separating Oil-Water Mixtures

Three Types of
Filter Media Produced from

Electrospun
Cellulose Acetate (Cac)-Polystyrene (Ps)

Composite
Membrane for Separating Oil-Water Mixtures

L. Baghernejad¹ Chem., E. Iski²
Chem.

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

O. Shoham³, Department of Petroleum
Engineering

R. Mohan⁴, Department of Mechanical
Engineering

S. Odueyungbo⁵, Chevron Energy Technology
Company

The University of Tulsa

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104

(918) 812-7956

lida-baghernejad@utulsa.edu

ABSTRACT

(261 Words)

Oil-water
mixtures are encountered in many domestic, industrial and environmental activities
and are often undesired and problematic. Particularly, oil-spills such as the
sudden Mexican Gulf catastrophe have attracted tremendous interest towards the separation
of oil-water mixtures. Membrane filtration is one of the most effective methods
so far in separating oil-water mixtures. In this project, Cellulose Acetate (CAc) fibers were reinforced by Poly
(styrene) (PS) fibers via co-electrospinning CAc and PS from one solution to
produce a highly porous, nanofibrous and flexible composite membrane. Three
types of filter media were developed from the electrospun CAc-PS membranes: 1) a hydrophobic-oleophilic filter medium (Filter #1),
which separated oil from oil-water mixtures,
2) a
hydrophilic-oleophobic filter medium (Filter #2), which separated water from oil-water
mixtures and 3) a hydrophobic-oleophobic filter
medium (Filter #3), which is expected to separate water and oil droplets
from wet gas. These filter media were produced by heating and/or treating the
electrospun CAc-PS membrane with two commercially available surfactants named
PHOBOL-CP^® and ULTRAPHIL^® from the Huntsman-DuPont
Textile Company. The filter media were
characterized physically, mechanically and chemically. The filtration performances
of the first two filter media were tested in a lab-scale batch filtration setup,
while the performance of the third filter medium remains to be tested. These
filter media are novel with respect to their material, structural topography
and morphology, surface roughness and filtration performance. The uniqueness of
these novel filter media can be attributed to their high reproducibility,
scalability, low basis weight, flexibility, high separation efficiency (>
90%) and cost-effectiveness due to their abundant and cheap starting materials.
In such terms, these filter media can compete with conventional filter media.