They say oil and water don't mix, but actually separating them from one another is shockingly difficult. Whether it's recycling, processing chemicals, or cleaning up oil spills, scientists have tried a wide range of methods — and now a team from China has made a breakthrough, Interesting Engineering reports.
The new technology is called JCM, short for the Janus Channel of Membranes, named after the Roman god known for having two faces. It uses a pair of membranes that only allow certain materials through. One of the membranes is hydrophilic, meaning it attracts water, and one is hydrophobic, meaning it repels water.
"Our JCM achieves exceptional oil and water recoveries of up to 97% and 75%, respectively, with near 99.9% purities," the researchers wrote, per IE. In other words, using these membranes allows the researchers to get almost all the oil back and three-fourths of the water.
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The two membranes are set up with a gap between them, which can adjust itself from 4 to 125 millimeters (0.16 to 4.92 inches). Keeping the membranes close together helps speed up separation, IE revealed. The mixture of oil and water is pumped between the membranes and allowed to move freely. Water passes through the hydrophilic membrane into one tank, while oil goes through the hydrophobic membrane and into another tank.
"As an emulsion of oil and water is forced to circulate through the slit, water passes through the hydrophilic membrane, and the increased concentration of oil in the emulsion creates increases the rate of oil permeation through the hydrophobic membrane," the authors explained, per IE.
This technology could be applied across a wide range of businesses, IE revealed. Industries from food manufacturing to oil drilling produce oily wastewater that is difficult to dispose of safely. Processing it through a JCM system could help prevent pollution, recover usable water, and even recycle the oil itself, perhaps as a fuel source or through certain methods of composting.
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