DEVELOPMENT OF ALUMINA HOLLOW FIBER MEMBRANE MODULES FOR EFFECTIVE OIL/WATER SEPARATION

This study critically engages with the context of increasing industrial and urban wastewater challenges where an effective oil-water separation process is considered. In most cases, the traditional gravity separator and centrifuge fail to isolate stable small droplets of oil from water in emulsified form. Alumina hollow fiber membrane modules that this study has undertaken fabrication efforts toward are proposed as one more step further to solve this problem. The hydrophobicity enhanced system shows all promises towards effectively carrying out the separation of oil from water in emulsions. Different membrane configurations tried possible relationships that this work presents between changing the number of membranes and efficiency in separation. Increasing surface area, i.e., an increasing number of fibers, allows more oil recovery but at a cost since fouling will tremendously take place. Even though the membrane could achieve very high separation efficiency, challenges related to operation, especially fouling at high concentrations of oil and the effects due to different flow rates have to be solved when applied on an industrial scale. This brings out the study's view that getting sustainable, cheap, and efficient ways of carrying out the oil-water separation process necessitates the optimization of membrane configurations and operating conditions.