Chitosan‐Functionalized Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate Nanofibrous Membrane for Sustainable On‐Demand Oil‐Water Separation

Abstract

The preservation of marine ecosystems is one of the most severe challenges at present. In particular, oil‐water separation from oil spills and oily wastewater is important. For this reason, a low‐cost, effective, and sustainable polymeric solution is in high demand. In this work, a controlled‐wettability membrane for selective separation of oil‐water mixtures and emulsions is developed. The nanofibrous membrane is prepared via a facile and cost‐effective electrospinning technique using environmentally sustainable materials, such as recycled polyethylene terephthalate and chitosan. The effect of different concentrations of chitosan on the morphology, chemical composition, mechanical properties, wettability, and separation performance of the membrane is evaluated. The membranes exhibited underoil superhydrophobic and underwater superoleophobic behavior, which is essential to perform the selective separation. In fact, the designed filter has competitive antifouling properties (oil intrusion pressure > 45 kPa) and showed high heavy‐ and light‐oil/water separation efficiencies (>95%) both for emulsions and immiscible mixtures.

Reuse of Textile Waste to Production of the Fibrous Antibacterial Membrane with Filtration Potential

“…Difficulties in melting the polymers [28,29] Recent studies have demonstrated the possibility of turning plastic waste into submicron fibers using the electrospinning technique [25][26][27]. Electrospinning seems to be an easy and cheap technique used to fabricate nanocomposite textile with a highly porous structure suitable for a wide variety of applications.…”

Polymeric Membranes for Oil-Water Separation: A Review

“…A natural polymer, chitosan, is most often used not in its pure form but only for the modification of cellulose [ 118 ] and synthetic polymers—for example, polyethylene terephthalate [ 119 ], polycaprolactone [ 120 ], polyvinylidene fluoride [ 121 ], and polysulfone [ 122 ]. Such a modification makes it possible to increase the hydrophilicity of the membranes, which means to increase their resistance to contamination in the process of separating oil-water emulsions and to increase the stability of indicators over time.…”

State-of-the-Art Organic- and Inorganic-Based Hollow Fiber Membranes in Liquid and Gas Applications: Looking Back and Beyond

“…Kusumocahyo et al further developed a lower-MWCO ultrafiltration membrane with improved permeate flux and rejection [ 681 , 682 ]. In moving forward, recycled PET was used to prepare membranes for oil-water separation [ 683 , 684 ], NF [ 685 ], and air NF [ 686 ]. To maximize their industrial implementation, scaling up into hollow fiber configuration is crucial for long-term sustainable development.…”