A new method for separating fine water droplets in oil using a pre-wetted mesh membrane by water
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초록
내용
Among various oil-water separation methods, membrane filtering is emerging in the 21st century due to high energy efficiency and low cost. Although various membranes to separate emulsion systems have been reported, it still remains a challenge to effectively separate emulsions containing fine droplets. In particular, membrane filtering requires the pore whose size is similar or smaller than the emulsion droplet size, but processes to reduce the pore size take time and effort. Therefore, we here present a simple method that can effectively separate water-in-oil emulsions with low concentrations of fine water droplets. After the surface modification of the stainless-steel mesh to be hydrophilic, a water thin film is formed around the mesh wire by the pre-wetting process. Based on this pre-wetted mesh membrane, we successfully confirm that a high separation efficiency of 98% or more can be achieved, even though the emulsion droplets are about 10 times smaller than the membrane pores.