Water separation from diesel fuel using high surface area 3D-printed aerogel constructs

Abstract

This work reports removal of emulsified water droplets from ultralow sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel using high surface area aerogel filter media constructs. A synergistic combination of additive manufacturing and sol–gel chemistry is used for fabrication of the filter media constructs from high surface area (>200 m2/g) and high porosity (>90%) polyimide and syndiotactic polystyrene aerogels that are grown using sol–gel processes inside the load-bearing 3D-printed polymeric constructs of polyamide and high impact polystyrene respectively. This paper evaluates the roles of several factors on water separation efficiency, such as surface energy of polymer media on wetting, surfactant adsorption by the high surface area polymer media, and size exclusion of water droplets by smaller aerogel pores. The surfactant-stabilized water droplets in ULSD can be removed with a separation efficiency of up to 95% using these mechanically strong aerogel constructs.