Fabrication of polysulfone membranes by blending with polyaniline and cellulose nanocrystals: towards the effective separation of oil-in-water emulsions

In the present work, we developed a hybrid membrane via phase inversion process composed from polysulfone (PSF), cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), and polyaniline (PANI) polymers for oil/water separation. Multiple techniques were used to characterize the developed membranes. Results demonstrated that under a gravity-driven process, the blended PSF membrane with CNC and PANI had a greatly higher water flux of 31.10, 29.01 and 29.95 L m−2 h−1 for pure water, soybean water mixture, and diesel water mixture respectively as compared to pure PSF and PSF/CNC membranes. Meanwhile, the water flux values under constant pressure-driven process, high water flux of PSF/CNC/PANI membrane could reach 800 L m−2 h−1 KPa−1 for various types of oils. The results showed ultrafiltration (UF) membrane with good micro-porosity, acceptable hydrophilicity, and good mechanical properties. Moreover, PSF/CNC/PANI membrane possessed high permeability properties at gravity-driven and pressure-driven processes for various oil water mixture separation with oil rejection efficiency (~ 88.2%).