Simultaneous complementary oil-water separation and water desalination using functionalized woven glass fiber membranes

A simple simultaneous complementary oil-water separation and water desalination system is designed using grafted glass fiber (GF) membranes. Non-fluorinated trialkoxysilanes are grafted to form superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic GF membranes, respectively. Zwitterion sulfobetaine was also synthesized and grafted on the glass fiber to make a superhydrophilic glass fiber membrane. The superwetting grafted GF membranes which are superhydrophobic had a water contact angle of 152 degrees and high separation efficiency (>99%) for ten cycles and the superhydrophilic had an underwater oil contact angle of 156 degrees and high separation efficiency (>98%) for ten cycles. The zwitterionic glass fiber membrane also exhibits excellent removal performance for heavy metal ions and nitrate ions from the water layer. This method is simple and scalable, and provides a versatile way for designing devices that achieve both oil/water separation and water desalination simultaneously. (C) 2019 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.