A method for removing immiscible fluid from contaminated water includes at least one chamber; an injection line in fluid communication with an inlet of the one chamber; bubble generation means in fluid communication with the injection line for injecting gas bubbles into the injection line and allowing mixing in the injection line of the gas bubbles and the contaminated water to form an inlet fluid; an inlet weir within the chamber adjacent the inlet; an immiscible fluid weir within the chamber; a trough for collecting the immiscible fluid and allowing the immiscible fluid to flow out of the at least one chamber through an immiscible fluid outlet; and a cleaned water outlet generally at the bottom of the chamber.

The combination of colloidal silica in conjunction with a chemical, such as a cationically-modified water soluble polymer, e.g. aluminum brine dispersion polymer, clarifies combinations of oil and water, for instance wastewater comprising an oil-in-water emulsion. The colloidal silica may have an average silica particle size of about 0.5 to about 10 nanometers.

A method for treating an emulsion emanating from a quenching process in production of ethylene that includes online monitoring of zeta potential of the hydrocarbon/water emulsion in a quench water tower and/or a quench water loop. In response to the online monitoring of zeta potential, the method changes the amount of demulsifier being added to the hydrocarbon/water emulsion such that the amount of demulsifier is effective in breaking the emulsion.

A Janus membrane exhibiting sides with different properties and methods of fabricating such a Janus membrane. The membrane comprises a polymer material lacking polar functional groups. One side of the membrane is masked during atomic layer deposition (ALD). ALD is utilized to deposit a conformal coating on an exposed side of the membrane.

Systems and methods including a pretreatment component for pretreating a produced water obtained from a subterranean formation operation to remove at least a portion of dispersed hydrocarbons and hydrogen sulfide therein, thereby producing a high salinity produced water; a desalination component for desalinating of the high salinity produced water to remove at least one or more salts therein, thereby producing a desalinated water and a saturated saline water; and a mineral recovery component for treating the saturated saline water to recover mineral salts therein, thereby producing the recovered mineral salts.

The invention relates to an electrode suitable for decreasing the chemical oxygen demand of waste-water comprising: a) a permanent component; and b) a sacrificial component arranged face-to-face and releasably attached to the permanent component and in electrical contact therewith, said permanent component consisting of a Substrate of a valve metal equipped with a catalytic coating containing noble metals or oxides thereof, said sacrificial component containing elemental iron. Further the invention relates to a method for abatement of the chemical oxygen demand in an aqueous waste containing oily compounds, glycols or waxes, optionally consisting of a foundry waste, by an electrolytic process involving anodic chlorine evolution in the presence of trivalent iron. Chlorine evolution may be carried out on the surface of an anode consisting of a catalytically activated-valve metal permanent component coupled to an iron-containing sacrificial component.

An oil-water separation membrane is described. The oil-water separation membrane comprises a porous metal sheet with a photocatalyst layer on one side and a layer of nanoparticles and a surfactant on the other side. The layer of nanoparticles and surfactant create a superoleophobic and superhydrophilic coating that allows passage of an aqueous phase and rejection of an oil phase. The photocatalyst layer, combined with UV irradiation, enables degradation of organic contaminants in the aqueous phase. The oil-water separation membrane may be used as part of an oil-water separation system, and a filtered water product may be recycled through the membrane to increase the removal of organic contaminants.

Titanium dioxide/sulfonated graphene oxide/silver nanoparticle composite membrane and its preparation method and application are disclosed. Mixing graphene oxide, sodium chloroethanesulfonate, and sodium hydroxide uniformly in the water, and then adding concentrated nitric acid to obtain sulfonated graphene oxide; mixing the aqueous solution of said sulfonated graphene oxide with the aqueous solution of silver nitrate, stirring in the dark, then adding ascorbic acid, and continuing to stir to obtain a silver nanoparticle/sulfonated graphene oxide composite material; dispersing said silver nanoparticle/sulfonated graphene oxide composite material in water, and then deposited on said titanium dioxide nanorods arrays by vacuum deposition, and vacuum dried to obtain titanium dioxide/sulfonated graphene oxide/silver nanoparticle composite membrane. The membrane possessed photocatalytic effect under UV light and special wettability: super-hydrophobic oil under water/super-hydrophobic under oil, which could in situ separation and degradation of oil/water emulsion.

Hierarchical porous membranes suitable for use in oil/water separation processes are provided. The membranes described herein are particularly well suited for separating trace amounts of water (e.g., no greater than 3 wt % water content, no greater than 1 wt % water content, or 50-1000 ppm water) from oil in droplets less than 1 um in size. The membranes have a wide range of applications, including deep seep oil exploration, oil purification, and oil spill cleanup.

Polymer compositions containing polyethylene particles having a multi-modal molecular weight distribution are disclosed. The polymer compositions are well suited to producing porous substrates through a sintering process. Formulations made according to the present disclosure can produce porous substrates having improved flexibility demonstrated by an increased flexural strength while still retaining excellent pressure drop characteristics.