Performance characterization of hydrophobic/oleophilic fabric membranes for stratified oil-water separation

In this work, competent hydrophobic/oleophilic fabric membranes for separating stratified oil–water mixtures were fabricated by a simple waterborne polymeric nanoparticle coating process by which the effective pore size and thickness of fabrics could be varied. Most importantly, a design of apparatus along with the data analysis for easy characterizing performance of the as-prepared fabric separation membranes was proposed. A membrane resistance, R_M, to the Poiseuille flow of oil liquids driven by gravity was shown to adequately manifest a particular fabric separation membrane. Moreover, a fabric membrane with an as-determined value of R_M was demonstrated to accomplish stratified oil–water separation in specific condition and enable the accurate prediction of separation time. In light of the fact, the estimation of mass flux and separation time of other Newtonian oil liquids through the hydrophobic/oleophilic membranes by this approach looks very promising. The simple yet useful methodology of this work illustrated its novelty in the field. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].