Fabrication of blended cellulose acetate/poly-pyrrole ultrafiltration membranes for crude oil wastewater separation

Abstract

Separation of different oil/water systems is still considered a challenge. This study explores the development of blended ultrafiltration membranes to treat wastewater contaminated with crude oil. The membranes are composed of cellulose acetate (CA) and poly-pyrrole (PPy), blended in varying proportions to investigate the impact on membrane properties and separation process. The modified membranes were fabricated via a phase inversion technique and characterized using various analytical techniques, including permeability, porosity, pore size, hydrophilicity, tensile strength, and morphology. Examining the membrane's structure using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the modified membranes have a rough surface structure with larger finger-like cross sections. Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (ATR-FTIR) and elemental analysis (EDS) measurements confirmed that polypyrrole (PPy) spread through the modified CA/PPy successfully. The modified C–P2 (stands for 2% PPy concentration) membrane exhibited the highest flux among different fabricated membranes (about 450 LMH/bar), with excellent separation efficiency (around 99.9%). Highly stable flux was observed in three recycles tests of the modified membranes. The results confirmed that these modified membranes are promising and feasible for efficient and high oil wastewater separation performance with anti-fouling properties.

Keywords

• Ultrafiltration
• Polypyrrole
• Cellulose acetate
• Crude oil
• Modification