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Membranes with selective wettability for the separation of oil-water mixtures

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Abstract

The separation of oil-water mixtures is a widely utilized unit operation, used for handling a wide variety of mixtures from industry including: petroleum drilling and refining, fracking, waste-water treatment, mining, metal fabrication and machining, textile and leather processing, and rendering. Membrane-based methods have become increasingly attractive for the separation of oil-water mixtures because they are relatively energy-efficient, can be readily used to separate a variety of industrial feed streams, and provide consistent permeate quality. In this perspective, we discuss the design strategies for membranes with selective wettability i.e., membranes that are either selectively wet by, or prevent wetting by, the oil or water phase. The design strategies include the parameterization of two important physical characteristics: the surface porosity and the breakthrough pressure. We also discuss how they are related for membranes with a periodic geometry. On the basis of this understanding, we explore principles that allow for the systematic design of membranes with selective wettability. A review of the current literature on the separation of oil-water mixtures using membranes with differing wettabilities is also presented. Finally, we conclude by discussing the current challenges and outlook for the future of the field.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Ki-Han Kim and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for financial support under grant N00014-12-1-0874. We also thank Dr. Charles Y. Lee and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) for financial support under grant FA9550-10-1-0523. We also thank the National Science Foundation and the Nanomanufacturing program for supporting this work through grant no. 1351412. EP would like to acknowledge support through the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE 1256260.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Gibum Kwon & Anish Tuteja

  2. Macromolecular Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Ethan Post & Anish Tuteja

  3. Biointerfaces Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Gibum Kwon, Ethan Post & Anish Tuteja

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Anish Tuteja

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  1. Gibum Kwon
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Correspondence to Anish Tuteja.

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Kwon, G., Post, E. & Tuteja, A. Membranes with selective wettability for the separation of oil-water mixtures. MRS Communications 5, 475–494 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2015.61

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