Low cost membrane used in oil/water removal

Abstract

A low-cost ceramic membrane was evaluated, on a bench scale, in the oil/water emulsion separation process. The ceramic membrane was produced by dry uniaxial compaction and characterized by XRD, porosity and permeation measurements. The membrane contains a composition of 95.00% clay, 5.00% corn starch and a sintering temperature of 650 °C. The initial emulsion concentrations were 500, 800 and 1000 mg/L, pressure 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 bar, 25 °C. The oil/water emulsion separation efficiency, permeate flux were measured at different transmembrane pressures and oil-in-water concentrations in oil emulsion, the results showed that 99.91% oil-in-water emulsion separation efficiency was maintained for a range of pressures. transmembrane and oil concentration. The highest permeate flow rate and separation efficiency (%) was 452 L/m2.h and 99.91%, respectively at 2 bar using oil-in-water emulsions. However, the water flux decreased with the reduction of the transmembrane pressure, increase of the oil concentration and with the use of the membrane. The use of low-cost ceramic membranes was very promising, since it is a membrane produced with alternative raw material of natural origin, using low sintering temperature and cost-effectiveness, disfavoring ceramic membranes produced from metallic oxides, which are relatively expensive, requiring a large amount of energy in production.