title: Influence of Surface Properties of Filtration-Layer Metal Oxide on Ceramic Membrane Fouling during Ultrafiltration of Oil/Water Emulsion.
abstract: In this work, ceramic ultrafiltration membranes deposited with different metal oxides (i.e., TiO2, Fe2O3, MnO2, CuO, and CeO2) of around 10 nm in thickness and similar roughness were tested for O/W emulsion treatment. A distinct membrane fouling tendency was observed, which closely correlated to the properties of the filtration-layer metal oxides (i.e., surface hydroxyl groups, hydrophilicity, surface charge, and adhesion energy for oil droplets). Consistent with the distinct bond strength of the surface hydroxyl groups, hydrophilicity of these common metal oxides is quite different. The differences in hydrophilicity consequently lead to different adhesion of these metal oxides toward oil droplets, consistent with the irreversible membrane fouling tendency. In addition, the surface charge of the metal oxide opposite to that of emulsion can help to alleviate irreversible membrane fouling in ultrafiltration. Highly hydrophilic Fe2O3 with the lowest fouling tendency could be a potential filtration-layer material for the fabrication/modification of ceramic membranes for O/W emulsion treatment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study clearly showing the correlations between surface properties of filtration-layer metal oxides and ceramic membrane fouling tendency by O/W emulsion.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150090, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dongwei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Water Desalination and Reuse Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology , Thuwal 4700, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Curtin Water Quality Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, Curtin University of Technology , Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia.|Facultad del Mar y Medio Ambiente, Universidad del Pacifico , Guayaquil 090150, Ecuador.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gutierrez
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150090, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Water Desalination and Reuse Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology , Thuwal 4700, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.|Curtin Water Quality Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, Curtin University of Technology , Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Croué
mesh_terms: D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry; D005290:Ferric Compounds; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008670:Metals; D010087:Oxides; D013499:Surface Properties; D014462:Ultrafiltration; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D005290:Ferric Compounds; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008670:Metals; D010087:Oxides