Cellulosic paper-based membrane for oil-water separation enabled by papermaking and in-situ gelation

Cellulosic paper-based membranes reveal incalculable application values for oil–water separation owing to their renewability and biodegradability. In this work, a cellulosic paper-based membrane was prepared via papermaking and in-situ gelation. The porosity of the membrane can be tailored by pulp refining in papermaking to further adjust the flux of membranes. The as-prepared membrane can separate oil–water emulsion efficiently with separation efficiency > 98.5%. The membranes also showed good underwater oil repellency due to the hydration layer. Besides, the wet strength of the paper-based membranes was enhanced by micro-dissolved and in-situ gelation to suit the underwater separation process. The membrane is expected to be a low-cost, highly-efficient material for oily wastewater purification. This work demonstrates a new idea for the development of oil–water separation and papermaking, which provides a feasible strategy for large scale production of fully biodegradable oil–water separation membranes.