The effects of ionic strength and surface charge on O/W emulsion fouling of ceramic membranes quantified via DLVO and XDLVO models

Large amounts of oily wastewater which included oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions, also known as produced water (PW), were produced in tandem with the enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Ultrafiltration (UF) was an effective and economic method to separate micron-sized O/W emulsions, while the membrane fouling limited its development. Understanding the...

Oil-in-water emulsion separation: Fouling of alumina membranes with and without a silicon carbide deposition in constant flux filtration mode

Ceramic membranes have drawn increasing attention in oily wastewater treatment as an alternative to their traditional polymeric counterparts, yet persistent membrane fouling is still one of the largest challenges. Particularly, little is known about ceramic membrane fouling by oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions in constant flux filtration modes. In...

The effect of surface charge on threshold flux and fouling behavior of silicon carbide membrane with O/W emulsion and sodium alginate solution as typical pollutants

Colloidal fouling has attracted increasing interest in the membrane field. Oil and water (O/W) emulsion droplet and Extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) are significant colloids in produced water and surface water, respectively. Oily wastewater is produced in many industrial processes such as oil and gas extraction processes, and can take a...

Highly permeable silicon carbide-alumina ultrafiltration membranes for oil-in-water filtration produced with low-pressure chemical vapor deposition

Silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic membranes are of particular significance for wastewater treatment due to their mechanical strength, chemical stability, and antifouling ability. Currently, the membranes are prepared by SiC-particle sintering at a high temperature. The production suffers from long production time and high costs. In this paper, we...