NON-FOULING CERAMIC MEMBRANES FOR TREATMENT OF METASTABLE OIL/WATER EMULSIONS

ONE CLASS OF WASTEWATERS, METASTABLE OIL/WATER EMULSIONS, ENCOMPASSES WASTE STREAMS FOR WHICH A NEED EXISTS FOR MORE COST-EFFECTIVE TREATMENT, AND FOR WHICH THE FLOWS ON A NATIONAL SCALE ARE LARGE. CURRENT TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR METASTABLE OIL/WATER EMULSIONS ARE OFTEN INEFFECTIVE AND SUBSTANTIAL IMPAIRMENT OF WATER RESOURCES RESULTS FROM DISPOSAL OF SUCH INADEQUATELY TREATED WASTE STREAMS. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES DEVELOPMENT OF A PHYSICAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT PROCESS APPLICABLE TO SUCH WASTE STREAMS; NAMELY, CROSSFLOW ULTRAFILTRATION (UF) USING NOVEL CERAMIC MEMBRANES THAT ARE TREATED TO HAVE LOW-SURFACE-FREE-ENERGY, NON-FOULING SURFACES. PROCESSING OF METASTABLE OIL-IN-WATER EMULSIONS WITH CONVENTIONAL UF MEMBRANES LEADS TO RAPID MEMBRANE FOULING AND FLUX DECLINE AND IS GENERALLY NOT ECONOMICAL BECAUSE OF THIS PROBLEM. IN THIS PROGRAM, CERAMIC UF MEMBRANES WITH MODIFIED, LOW-ENERGY SURFACES ARE BEING DEVELOPED USING LOW-COST, HIGH-SURFACE-AREA SUPPORTS. THE RESULTING MEMBRANE MODULES ARE BEING EVALUATED FOR FILTRATION PROPERTIES USING DIFFERENT TYPES OF SYNTHETIC METASTABLE OIL-IN-WATER EMULSIONS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THESE EXPERIMENTS ARE DEFINITION OF PREFERRED MEMBRANE MODIFICATION TECHNIQUES AND DEMONSTRATION OF THE CAPABILITY OF SURFACE-MODIFIED MEMBRANES TO MAINTAIN HIGH, STABLE PERMEATE FLUX LEVELS WHILE PRODUCING A SUBSTANTIALLY HYDROCARBON-FREE PERMEATE.