Oil/water separation through dual-channeled superhydrophobic/underwater superoleophobic meshes toward continuous processes

ABSTRACT

A highly efficient continuous oil/water separation process is proposed where both superhydrophobic/superoleophilic oil-removing and superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic water-removing stainless steel meshes are installed at the bottom of the same container to construct a dual-channeled separator, in which agitation is applied to avoid the stratification of oil/water mixtures. Continuous oil/water separation is easily realized by this dual-channeled separator. Stainless steel meshes above 300-mesh afford separation efficiency higher than 99.5% for oils lighter than water such as gasoline, hexane, and heptane and oils heavier than water like carbon tetrachloride in a wide range of ratio of oil to water.

KEYWORDS:

• Superhydrophobic
• superoleophobic
• oil/water separation
• dual-channeled
• continuous separation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant number [51963014]; Tianyou innovation team of Lanzhou Jiaotong University under Grant number [TY202004].