Synthesis, Characterization, and study the Performance for Oil/Water Separation using Cross linked Hydrophilic Copolymer-Coated Mesh

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Chemistry, College of Science for Women, University of Baghdad, 10071 Al Jadria, Baghdad, Iraq

Abstract

Oil/water separation is an important issue that many industries have to address. In this work, hydrogels of ethylmethacrylate/mathacrylamide EMA/MAM copolymer with different compositions have been prepared using free radical polymerization technique. The polymerization was performed in the presence and absence of the crosslinking agent, methylene bisacrylamide (MBA). Metal meshes have different pore sizes (500 and 1000 micron) were then fabricated with the prepared hydrogels. Several parameters and properties have been studied to evaluate the performance of the prepared coated meshes as oil/water separator, water recovery, reclaimed oil, separation time, hydrogels coated percentages, swelling parameters, mechanical properties, microscopic and photographic images, and scanning electron microscopy. All the studied properties and diameters were directly affected by the used crosslinker amount, the composition of copolymer, and the pore size of coated meshes. From the experimental results water recovery in the range of 73 to 88 % was achieved. Separation efficiency increases as the amount of MBA increases in the hydrogels. The coated meshes having 1000 micron pore size show better separation efficiency than coated meshes having 500 micron pore size. Finally, copolymers with high MAM composition show excellent performance for oil/water separation. No study has been reported on preparation composite of EMA/MAM copolymer hydrogel-coated mesh as oil/water separator.

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Volume 65, Issue 132 - Serial Number 13
Special Issue: Chemistry and Global Challenges (Part B)
December 2022
Pages 719-726
  • Receive Date: 04 June 2022
  • Revise Date: 21 June 2022
  • Accept Date: 24 July 2022