Treatment of oily wasterwater using ultrafiltration membranes modified by nano particles

The development of membrane filtration provides a promising alternative for oily produced water treatment. Membrane fouling is a critical issue that affects treatment efficiency and service life of membrane. Membrane surface modification is a viable approach to improve its antifouling ability. In this study, Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) membrane was grafted with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) by cold plasma induced graft copolymerization. PAA provided sufficient carboxyl groups as anchor sites for further binding of nano-TiO2. The nano-TiO2 binding was achieved through an effective self-assembled technique. The results indicated that both the PAA layer and nano-Ti02 were uniformly and strongly attached onto the membrane surface. The surface hydrophilicity of modified membrane was significantly improved, which was proved by the decreased water contact angle. The irreversibly binding of super hydrophilic nano-Ti02 endows the membranes with strong antifouling performance.