Novel Method of Oil/Water Separation Using Composite of Polymethylacrylamide Hydrogel-Coated Metal Mesh

Abstract

Different compositions of hydrogels composed of mathacrylamide homopolymer (60 and 90% of PMAM) were prepared using the free radical polymerization technique, with and without methylene bisacrylamide as crosslinker (0 and 3%). Several parameters and properties were studied to evaluate their performance as oil/water separators. Many parameters are used, such as residual oil in water, water recovery, separation time, hydrogels coated percentages, swelling parameters, mechanical properties, microscopic and photographic images, and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that water recovery (87-97), Separation efficiency (96.2-99.6 %), separation time (6-9.5 min.), hydrogels coated percentages (18-23 %), water content (70-97 %), and tensile test (63-90 MPa). The effect of polymer crosslinking density, mesh pore size, and polymer composition on the parameters and properties mentioned above were also studied. The results showed that the separation efficiency of 1000 micron mesh composite is better than 500-micron mesh composites.