Figure 5: Continuous separation of water-in-oil emulsions.
From: Hygro-responsive membranes for effective oil–water separation
(a) A scaled-up apparatus used for the continuous separation of 30:70 v:v water-in-hexadecane emulsions stabilized by polysorbate 80. The superhydrophilic and oleophobic mesh 400 was prepared by dip coating with a 20 wt% fluorodecyl POSS+x-PEGDA blend, whereas the hydrophobic and oleophilic mesh 400 was prepared by dip coating with Desmopan9370 (γsv=35.6 mN m−1; see Supplementary Table S1 and Supplementary Discussion). During continuous separation, water-rich permeate continuously passes through the superhydrophilic and oleophobic membrane, whereas hexadecane-rich permeate continuously passes through the hydrophobic and oleophilic membrane. Water is dyed blue and hexadecane is dyed red. Scale bar, 5 cm. (b) TGA data for both the permeates. (c) Measured fluxes for both the permeates as a function of time.
