Oily wastewater from industries has an adverse impact on the environment, human and aquatic life. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane modified with a zwitterionic/hydrophobic pentapolymer (PP) with controlled pore size has been utilized to separate oil from water from their nano-emulsions. The PP has been synthesized in 91% yield via pentapolymerization of four different diallylamine salts [(CH₂=CHCH₂)₂NH⁺(CH₂)_xA^-], bearing CO₂^-, PO₃H^-, SO₃^-, (CH₂)₁₂NH₂ pendants, and SO₂ in a respective mol ratio of 25:36:25:14:100. Incorporating PP into PVDF has shown a substantially reduced membrane hydrophobicity; the contact angle decreased from 92.5⁰ to 47.4⁰. The PP-PVDF membranes have demonstrated an excellent capability to deal with the high concentrations of nano-emulsions with a separation efficiency of greater than 97.5%. The Flux Recovery Ratio (FRR) of PP-5 incorporated PVDF membrane was about 82%, which was substantially higher than the pristine PVDF.

Mechanism of separation of oil-in-water emulsions

Cycloplymerization of monomers 1–4 and SO2<br /> leading to PP 5

Cycloplymerization of monomers 1–4 and SO2
leading to PP 5

Nadeem Baig

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