Publication Date: 2026
Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects (18734359)737
This study explored the separation of O-W emulsions using hydrophilic and hydrophobic membranes. For this purpose, two groups of hydrophilic membranes (LMs) and hydrophobic membranes (BMs) were fabricated. In the hydrophilic membranes group, simultaneous methods of modifying the membrane structure and adjusting the operating conditions were applied, while in the hydrophobic membranes group, structural modification and membrane pre-treatment were utilized to enhance the filtration efficiency. The results revealed that applying external stimuli of light and pH to hydrophilic membranes as well as preheating to hydrophobic membranes boosted the membrane performance. So that the use of TiO2 and P4VP modifier in LM3 led to a flux of 75.83 LMH of T/W emulsion, while the flux of LM0 was measured 26 LMH. In addition, the rejection of LM3 was calculated to be 99.76 % under acidic pH with light irradiation and 92 % under neutral pH without light exposure, while for LM0, it was 88.67 %. In the hydrophobic membrane group, in W/T emulsion separation, due to the presence of hydrophobic SiO2 the flux of BM3 was measured to be 40.44 LMH, while the flux of BM0 was 11.84 LMH. Furthermore, the rejection of BM3 with and without thermal treatment was calculated to be 98.02 % and 96.9 %, respectively, while for BM0, it was calculated to be 87.56 %. Also, LM3 achieved a flux of 58.3 LMH and 96.25 % rejection for real wastewater, while BM3 showed 48.32 LMH flux and 97.25 % rejection for high-salinity water-in-oil emulsion. Furthermore, after ten cycles, their rejections remained above 94 % for both synthetic and real wastewater. © 2026 Elsevier B.V.
