A facile strategy for fabrication of nanocomposite ultrafiltration membrane: oily wastewater treatment and photocatalytic self-cleaning

Abstract Understanding the importance of reclaiming water from a huge oily wastewater stream generated during the drilling of oil in the petroleum industry and mitigating membrane fouling, a polymeric-inorganic nanocomposite membrane was fabricated with self-cleaning properties. The photocatalytic TiO 2 nanoparticles were embedded in the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix during wet phase inversion. To enhance the separation potential and photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 nanoparticles, a conjugated polypyrrole (PPy) was grown on the membrane through oxidative polymerization leading to an active layer composed of PPy@TiO 2 nano-photocatalyst. The study of membrane wettability revealed the hydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic nature of the PPy@TiO 2 /PVDF membrane. The PPy@TiO 2 /PVDF membrane was applied for treating water-containing emulsified oily feed. Different types of feeds contaminated by different oils such as motor oil, diesel oil, and crude oil were studied. The separation efficiency of the PPy@TiO 2 /PVDF membrane stayed above 99% as the membrane allowed only water to permeate while oil was rejected. The permeate pure water flux was found to be dependent upon feed pressure and the nature of oil in the feed. While keeping the separation efficiency constant at 99%, the flux was decreased with increasing concentration of oil in the feed which is attributed to the fouling of the membrane. The fouled membrane was photo-catalytically cleaned by exposing the fouled PPy@TiO 2 /PVDF membrane to solar-simulated visible light as the surface features of the cleaned membrane completely resembled that of the pristine PPy@TiO 2 /PVDF membrane.