We have developed hygro-responsive (from the Greek prefix 'hygra' meaning liquid) membranes that are counter-intuitively both superhydrophilic and superoleophobic.The developed membranes can separate all types of oil-water mixtures (i.e., free oil and water, oil-in-water emulsions, water-in-oil emulsions and any combination of these phases), with greater than 99.9% separation efficiency using only gravity as the driving force. We also demonstrate the continuous separation of oil-water mixtures for over 100 hours without a decrease in flux.Our separation methodology uses only gravity and consequently is expected to be one of the most energy-efficient and cost-effective ways to separate oil-water mixtures. We anticipate that our separation methodology will have numerous applications, including the clean-up of oil spills, wastewater treatment, fuel purification and the separation of commercially relevant emulsions.

Hygro-responsive membranes for energy-efficient separation of oil-water mixture

246th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.