In-Line Testing of Novel Filter Media for Oil-Water Mixtures

A novel non-fibrous filter media is evaluated for in-line oil-water separation. Outside-in-crossflow configuration incorporating the filter media is utilized in order to test the filter. All experiments are conducted with a hydrophilic-olephobic filter for water-continuous flow with low oil concentrations. The collected experimental data include permeate flow rate and purity as well as pressure drop. Values of permeate flow rate and pressure drop are averaged over the duration of the experiments, which is about 5 minutes, constituting the “initial average” of the permeate flow rate and the corresponding pressure drop. Totally twelve experimental runs are conducted for mixture velocities of 0.038 m/s, 0.055 m/s and 0.066 m/s, and oil concentrations of 0.6%, 0.83%, 1.1%, 7.9% and 9.1%. Permeate samples are analyzed for oil content, demonstrating a high separation efficiency of 98 ± 2%. The permeate flux across the filter cartridge ranges between 0.0739 (L/h)/cm2 to 0.216 (L/h)/cm2 owing to the low pressure drop across to filter. Oil concentration in to permeate water samples shows consistently increasing trend with an increase in inlet oil content, while maintaining high separation efficiency for all runs. The pressure drop across the membrane under flowing conditions ranges from 0.35 psid to 0.6 psid for flow rates between 0.1 L/min and 0.29 L/min, respectively. Also the data confirm that the filter membrane breakthrough pressure is 0.35 psid.