Study of PVDF Tubular Ultrafiltration Membrane for Separating Oil/water Emulsion and Effect of Cleaning Method on Membrane

Abstract

Oil/water emulsion is treated with polyvinylidenefluoride(PVDF) tubular ultrafiltration membrane. The flux of PVDF tubular ultrafiltration membrane is tested by varying the operation pressure(from 0.06Mpa to 0.25Mpa), membrane surface velocity of flow(from 1.47m/s to 3.69m/s) and system running time (from 1h to 20h). The average membrane flux is up to 108.2 L/(m2.h) in proper experiment conditions. Then some cleaning methods are studied and the chemical cleaning has the best effect, the flux restoration rate is more than 92%. Oil concentration in permeate water was less than 10 mg/L. The rejection rate of oil was more than 90%, The cleaning periods were 24h. Using PVDF tubular ultrafiltration membrane to treat oil/water emulsion is a feasible and economical method.