High-flux, efficient and reusable zeolite/stainless steel meshes for oil/water separation

Two types of zeolite meshes were examined in this study for oil/water separation. The first type involved nanozeolite seeds deposited uniformly on a stainless steel mesh. Second, secondary grown zeolite membranes were synthesized on stainless steel meshes. Both the zeolite meshes were found to be superamphiphilic and underwater superoleophobic. The oil/water separation properties of zeolite membrane meshes were investigated using different types of oil. It was found that the separation efficiency of the mesh was above 99.98%, with the residual rate of oil in water being less than 20 ppm. However, the seed layer mesh did not exhibit good repeatability. Secondary grown zeolite mesh exhibited no significant decline after 50 experiments with diesel and 30 trials with rapeseed oil. The secondary grown zeolite mesh has an average filtration flux of 37.68 m(3)/(m(2).h) under gravity. Furthermore, even after storage for two years, the oil/water separation performance of the secondary grown sample was maintained. The study concludes that the secondary grown zeolite membrane mesh has great potential in oil/water separation applications.