Preparation of ZIF-8-coated polyacrylonitrile composite nanofibrous membrane for efficient oil-in-water emulsion separation

The membrane separation techniques have emerged as a preferred strategy for mitigating the escalating discharge of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions across various industrial sectors. Particularly noteworthy within this domain is the coalescence separation approach employing nanofibrous membranes, which has garnered considerable attention due to its effectiveness and cost-efficiency as a physical separation method. In the present study, our objective was to fabricate a composite membrane comprising polyacrylonitrile/zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (PAN/ZIF-8) through a dip-coating process of ZIF-8 dispersion onto the PAN nanofibrous membrane. Our investigation revealed that the resultant composite membrane demonstrated markedly improved separation performance which underscores the potential of the composite membrane in addressing the challenges associated with O/W emulsions.