IIT-G researchers develop oil-water separating device

New Delhi: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have developed a device that can continuously separate oil from water by strategic use of fish-scale and lotus-leaf inspired membranes.

The team developed the system of materials by combining the lotus leaf-inspired super-water repellence and fish scale-mimicked underwater super-oil repellence.

The membranes that are super-water repellent in air, and super oil-repellent in water, have been shown to separate complex mixtures of oil and water at practically relevant settings, according to the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Oil-water separation is also important in environmental applications like oil spill management. The team then developed a prototype of oil-water separation device using these membranes so that the separated oil and water were simultaneously collected in different containers.

"Oil-water separation is of current relevance because many industries, such as mining, textiles, food and petrochemicals, produce massive volumes of oily wastewater, which must be treated before discharge," said Uttam Manna, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, IIT Guwahati. The lotus leaf for example, is water repellent so that it does not get soggy in its living space, researchers said. Fish, on the other hand, has a body surface that repels oil in order to survive in polluted waters, they said.

Scientists have studied the surface structures of lotus leaves and fish scales to understand what gives them their superhydrophobicity (super-water repellence) and superoleophobicity (super-oil repellence), so that these structures can be replicated artificially for oil-water separation applications. Lotus leaf-inspired superhydrophobic materials and fish scale-inspired superoleophobic materials were developed following a single and unique deposition process and tested for gravity-driven removal of oil from water.