Enhancing oil-water separation performance through controlled porous electrospun CA membranes

This study presents the development and evaluation of electrospun cellulose acetate (CA) membranes for the efficient separation of oil-in-water emulsions, with a focus on treating industrial oily wastewater. The research investigates how process parameters—particularly environmental humidity, fiber morphology, and membrane thickness—affect membrane performance. Electrospun CA membranes were fabricated under varying humidity conditions, and their structure was analyzed through microscopy and pore characterization. Synthetic emulsions of cyclohexane in water (50–400 ppm) were used to simulate real wastewater, and separation efficiency was measured via UV-Vis spectroscopy. The results show that membranes electrospun under higher humidity exhibit larger pores and increased permeability, while those fabricated under lower humidity offer finer fiber networks and higher oil rejection. Optimizing membrane thickness improved performance at higher oil concentrations, maintaining over 95% separation efficiency at 400 ppm cyclohexane. These findings demonstrate superior performance compared to conventional phase inversion CA membranes, particularly in handling diverse emulsion types and concentrations. This work highlights the potential of electrospun CA membranes as a sustainable and tunable solution for industrial wastewater treatment, contributing to environmentally friendly membrane technologies.