Rapid, Sustainable, and Versatile Strategy Towards Fabricating Superhydrophobic Cotton Textile Membranes for Separation of Emulsified and Stratified Oil/Water Mixtures

Abstract

Special wettability membranes represent one of the smart, advanced, and energy-efficient solutions for the separation of contaminated oily wastewater as well as the treatment of crude oil spills. To increase sustainability and facilitate the large-scale applications of the superwetting membranes, novel renewable materials combined with rapid fabrication approaches should be explored. This study describes a simple and rapid strategy for fabricating superhydrophobic cotton textile (SCT) membranes via a solution immersion strategy from a few renewable and low-cost materials. The versatile fabrication approach was extended to fabricate other types of porous 2D/3D superhydrophobic substrates including metal mesh and melamine sponge. The fabricated SCT was employed for the gravity-driven continuous separation of immiscible oil/water mixtures with a high flux of 62500 ± 650 L. m−2. h−1 and high separation efficiency of > 99%. The SCT was employed for the demulsification of oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions as well as for the cleanup of crude oil spills. The fabricated SCT membranes exhibited high chemical and mechanical durability as well as excellent recyclability. Thus, the presented fabrication strategy offers a versatile, practical, and sustainable pathway toward the rapid construction of superhydrophobic porous membranes for efficient and diverse oil/water separations for the treatment of stratified and emulsified oily wastewater effluents and crude oil spills.