Optimisation of the removal of oil in water emulsion by using ceramic microfiltration membrane and hybrid coagulation/sand filter-MF

Abstract

Many industries produce oil-water emulsions as major waste streams, which require specialised treatment, including the petrochemical, oil and gas and some food industries. One method to remove oil droplets from wastewater is using ceramic tubular microfiltration membranes. However, such membranes are vulnerable to fouling, which causes operational impairment. The aim of this work is to reduce ceramic membrane fouling by exploring the combination of ceramic membranes with several pre-treatment options. We have compared direct oil-water emulsion treatment using a ceramic microfiltration (MF) membrane with a hybrid system of coagulation/ sand filtration pre-treatment prior to ceramic membrane MF. Superior permeate flux was obtained using the hybrid coagulation/sand filter-MF process due to a reduction of membrane fouling by reducing the oil concentration in the inlet emulsion to the ceramic membrane. Moreover, the oil removal efficiency for hybrid coagulation/sand

Investigations of the effect of pore size of ceramic membranes on the pilot-scale removal of oil from oil-water emulsion

“…The three membranes, as would be expected from Darcy's law [17,24] . Moreover, the steady-state permeate flux was always found correlate to membrane pore size.…”

“…When the TMP was increased, oil removal efficiency slightly increased due to blockage of the pores in the ceramic membrane and formation of a thicker cake layer on the membrane surface. This layer will collect oil molecules preventing passage through the membrane [17,27]. However, at higher TMP (> 2 bar), oil removal efficiency was decreased.…”

“…In particular, the roles of poly aluminium chloride and adding casein to oil-water emulsions as coagulants for removal of oil from oil-water emulsion were reported by Suzuki & Maruyama [15]. Al Mojjly et al [16] investigated coagulation using aluminium and ferric sulfate coagulants for removal of oil in a hybrid coagulation /sand filtration as a pre-treatment process, as well as integrating this pretreatment process with MF [17].…”

Hazardous wastes treatment technologies

“…Moreover, the total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency for oil-inwater emulsion was >99%. Almojjly, Johnson, Mandale, and Hilal (2019) reported that pretreatment with coagulation/sand filtration of industrial waste streams eliminated the fouling of MF membrane. Huang, Zhang, Peng, et al (2019) incorporated magnetic nanoparticles into UF membrane for the treatment of waste cutting emulsion.…”

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/PVDF‐g‐polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/TiO2 mixed matrix nanofiltration membranes: preparation and characterization

“…Outstanding properties such as excellent processability, good membrane-forming characteristics, high thermal and mechanical stability and superb chemical resistance make this polymer a promising choice for membrane applications. [1][2][3][4] So far, an extensive range of membrane related applications including ultrafiltration, 5,6 microfiltration, [7][8][9] nanofiltration, 10 membrane distillation 11 and other separation processes have been identified for the PVDF polymer. Nevertheless, PVDF membranes are often fouled by protein due to strong hydrophobicity, leading to a rapid decline in water flux.…”