F. Aisueni, E. Gobina, R. Prabhu
Robert Gordon University,
United Kingdom
Keywords: pore size, contact angle, porosity, hydrophilicity, membrane
Summary:
The main objective of this work is to study the effect of pore size and porosity on contact angle of ceramic membrane for Oil-in-water emulsion separation. This would include using N2 adsorption/desorption to validate pore size commercially produced unmodified and modified membranes as well as using equations to calculate the porosity of the ceramic membranes. Firstly, three different ceramic membrane pores sizes (6000, 200 and 15nm) are validated for pore size using N2 adsorption/desorption method. Then Achimedes equation is used to measure the porosity of these three membranes. Subsequently, the contact angle for the ceramic membranes is measured using Attention thetalite meter to test for the hydrophilicity. hydrodynamics and microstructure parameters which includes characterization and crossflow filtrations on ceramic membrane for the separation of oil-in-water emulsion. Compared to existing literature the porosity of the 6000, 200 and 15nm ceramic membrane was 40, 20 and 10% and the contact angle was 75.33, 53.35 and 33.450 respectively which indicates a sequential flow that correlates with both pore size and porosity of the three membranes. This is an indication that the higher the pore size and porosity, the higher the contact angle. Results from this study is relevant for the right membrane pore size to be utilized for oil-in-water emulsion separation that will yield a high flux, oil rejection and water flux recovery.