MODELING OF HYDROCARBON EMULSION SEPARATION BY POLYACRYLONITRILE MEMBRANES TREATED WITH GLOW DISCHARGE PLASMA

An ultrafiltration separation of an I-20A oil-based water-oil emulsion using polyacrylonitrile membranes with a cut-off particle mass of 10–60 kDa has been studied. It is revealed that the efficiency of the ultrafiltration process decreases with increasing pressure and pore size of the filters, as the amount of organic components in the resulting filtrate increases according to the obtained chemical oxygen demand values. It is shown that modification of membranes by glow discharge plasma in argon and nitrogen environment leads to an increase in the efficiency of emulsion separation. This circumstance is explained by a change in the filter structure, which is confirmed by the results of electron microscopy. The obtained graphical dependences are interpolated using Lagrange polynomials and expressions describing the change in the values of the process under study are determined. It is concluded that the obtained analytical expressions will allow, without conducting many similar experiments, to obtain the technological parameters of the process depending on the initial data. A technology for water purification from emulsified hydrocarbons is proposed.