Advancement of Oil/Water Separating Materials: Merits and Demerits in Real-Time Applications

Abstract

With the increase of offshore drilling of oil, production and transportation the chances of oil spillage has enormously increased. Oil spillages have a catastrophic impact on our aquatic environment and ecosystem. In the last few years development of special wettable materials for oil-water separation has received tremendous research and industrial interest. Materials with selective wettability, that is superhydrophobic and superoleophilic, or superhydrophilic and superoleophobic, can be used to remove only one phase from the oil/water mixture. Moreover, the effect of the surface chemistry and surface architecture can further promote the superwetting behaviour and improves separation efficiency. In this review, recently developed materials for oil/water separation are summarized and discussed. These materials have been categorized based on their oil/water separating mechanisms that is filtration or absorption. Representative studies are highlighted, with emphasis on the materials wetting properties that is superhydrophobic/superoleophilic or superoleophobic/superhydrophilic nature, innovative aspects and their applications. The materials with selective wettability can be used for the treatment of oil spills and industrial oily wastewater treatment on an industrial scale. The challenges and future research directions in this emerging and promising research field are briefly described.