Oil spills in the
ocean greatly threaten local environments, marine
creatures, and coastal economies. An automatic water/oil separation
material system was proposed in this study, and a tubular geometry
was chosen to demonstrate the water/oil separation efficiency and
effectiveness. The water/oil separation tubes were made of expanded
polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) and graphite composites. The permeation
pressures of water and oil through the tube walls were tuned by adjusting
the ePTFE microstructure, which, in turn, depended on the degree of
expansion and the graphite content. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy
was performed to confirm the compositions of the ePTFE/graphite composites,
and a scanning electron microscope was used to examine the microstructure
and morphology of the expanded PTFE/graphite composite tubes. When
a proper pressure was applied, which was higher than the oil’s
permeation pressure (3.0 kPa) but lower than the water’s permeation
pressure (57 kPa), the oil leaked out of the tube walls while the
water went through the ePTFE/graphite tubes. As such, the water/oil
mixture could be separated and collected in different containers or
an outer tube. Due to this automatic separation, the whole process
could be done continuously and conveniently, thus exhibiting great
potential in the practical applications of oil spill and water separation/remediation.
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