OIL RECOVERY FROM PRODUCED WATER VIA SELECTIVE OIL PERMEATION

High-efficiency oil-water separations are crucial to the success of treatment trains for the beneficial reuse of industrial wastewaters like produced water. While traditional membrane-based separations can achieve low minimum droplet removal and high oil removals, they often experience rapid viscous fouling of the membrane surface. Selective oil permeation is a promising alternate membrane-based approach in which oil permeates through the membrane surface instead of water. The process differs from traditional membrane-based oil-water separations by generating a high-quality oil permeate stream and minimizing viscous fouling by exploiting the preferential wetting of the membrane surface. Our previous research has observed encouraging results with synthetic oil-water emulsions over a range of operating parameters and solution characteristics. These studies have provided mechanistic insight and a fundamental understanding of the process. Yet, few studies have investigated selective oil permeation utilizing real industrial wastewaters. In this study, we apply the fundamental insights that we have gained using model systems to understand and optimize system performance with produced water. In doing so, we enhance our understanding of the opportunity space for selective oil permeation.