Fabrication of porous polyacrylamide/polystyrene fibrous membranes for efficient oil-water separation

With increasing demand for the treatment of oil contaminants in wastewater, it was necessary to develop energy efficient technologies for oil-water separation. In this study, the porous polyacrylamide/polystyrene (PAM/PS) fiber was synthesized by electrospinning method, and the membrane was obtained from fiber by the compression moulding process. The porous structure on the fiber surface was controlled by the content of PAM. The water contact angle of PAM/PS fiber reached 157.6 +/- 2.5 degrees, and it still showed good salt resistance and acid/alkali stability. PAM/PS fiber revealed high oil-sorption capacity for the removal of multiple edible and industrial oils. Notably, for the above used oils, the sorption capacity of PAM/PS still reached 154.5-202.2 g/g. In the mixed system of used oil and simulated seawater, PAM/PS membrane exhibited effective property of oil/water separation. Specially, under an applied pressure of 0.01 MPa and mechanical stirring, the light-oil was rapidly separated from mixtures by PAM/PS membrane, which showed good stability in 20 cycles. Hence, PAM/PS membrane was a very promising material for actual application in the large-scale treatment of oil-contaminants wastewater.