Polymers (Mar 2024)

An Eco-Friendly Manner to Prepare Superwetting Melamine Sponges with Switchable Wettability for the Separation of Oil/Water Mixtures and Emulsions

  • Guyita Berako Belachew,
  • Chien-Chieh Hu,
  • Yan-Yu Chang,
  • Chih-Feng Wang,
  • Wei-Song Hung,
  • Jem-Kun Chen,
  • Juin-Yih Lai

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16050693
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 5
p. 693

Abstract

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Oil/water separation processes have garnered significant global attention due to the quick growth in industrial development, recurring chemical leakages, and oil spills. Hence, there is a significant demand for the development of inexpensive superwetting materials in an eco-friendly manner to separate oil/water mixtures and emulsions. In this study, a superwetting melamine sponge (SMS) with switchable wettabilities was prepared by modifying melamine sponge (MS) with sodium dodecanoate. The as-prepared SMS exhibited superhydrophobicity, superoleophilicity, underwater superoleophobicity, and underoil superhydrophobicity. The SMS can be utilized in treating both light and heavy oil/water mixtures through the prewetting process. It demonstrated fast permeation fluxes (reaching 108,600 L m−2 h−1 for a light oil/water mixture and 147,700 L m−2 h−1 for a heavy oil/water mixture) and exhibited good separation efficiency (exceeding 99.56%). The compressed SMS was employed in separating surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions (SWOEs), as well as surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions (SOWEs), giving high permeation fluxes (reaching 7210 and 5054 L m−2 h−1, respectively). The oil purity for SWOEs’ filtrates surpassed 99.98 wt% and the separation efficiencies of SOWEs exceeded 98.84%. Owing to their remarkable capability for separating oil/water mixtures and emulsions, eco-friendly fabrication method, and feasibility for large-scale production, our SMS has a promising potential for practical applications.

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