HYDROXYAPATITE HOLLOW FIBER FOR OIL-WATER SEPARATION

Abstract

Massive oily water produced in oil and gas industry is a catastrophe to the oil and water sources on the earth. Ceramic membrane separation is a promising approach to obtain clean water and oil fuel from oily water to mitigate this catastrophe. In this research, a low cost and biocompatible material, hydroxyapatite (HAP), is innovatively explored as bioceramic membranes for oily water separation. HAP powder was firstly synthesized by chemical precipitation and solid-state exchange methods, respectively. The powder was then fabricated into membranes with various geometries such as circular pellet, dense tube, and porous hollow fiber by different methods. The preparation, property, and oil-water separation performance of HAP hollow fiber membranes were studied in details. The HAP content, particle size, the viscosity of HAP suspension and sintering temperature of HAP hollow fibers all influenced the pore size, structure and oil-water separation performance of resultant HAP membranes.