Preparation and applications of microfiltration carbon membranes for the purification of oily wastewater

Microfiltration carbon membranes for oily wastewater treatment were fabricated from phenolic resin. The effects of oil concentration, running time, additives and regeneration on the removal of oil from wastewater were investigated. The as-obtained microfiltration membranes possess a macroporosity of 39.0% and meso and microporous volumes of 0.134 m3/g, along with two major pore size distributions around 0.1 μm and 20 nm. They are, respectively, attributed to the constituted particles' stacking and the precursor pyrolysis. The results showed that the microfiltration membranes can efficiently remove the oil in wastewater. In the presence of ethanol as an additive in solution, the oil concentration is dramatically reduced from initial 200 mg/L in feed to below 10 mg/L in permeate, with an oil rejection of 95.3%.