Desenvolvimento de membranas híbridas (PEUAPM/argila verde dura organofílica) para remoção de emulsão óleo/água.

Abstract

This work aimed to produce polymeric membranes and hybrid membranes (hard green organoclay/UHMWPE) and evaluate, on a laboratory scale, the behavior and performance of the membranes produced in removing oil / water emulsion using a separation column by membranes. Assays were performed in conditions of initial concentration of oil 100 mgL-1, temperature of 25°C atmospheric pressure. Polymeric membranes were produced using the incipient method of powders, according to the experimental design that had as input variables the percentage by mass of hard green organoclay and sintering time in the electric furnace, and in response to removing oil emulsion/water. The hard green clay was chemically with the quaternary ammonium salt Genamim. The hard green clays, natural and organoclay were characterized by diffraction techniques of X-ray (XRD) Spectroscopy blooming X-ray energy dispersive (FRX-ED), physical adsorption of N2, Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) adsorption capacity and Foster's swelling, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) and Thermogravimetric (TG). The UHMWPE polymer was characterized by XRD and TG techniques. The produced membranes (polymeric and hybrid) were characterized by XRD techniques and optical microscopy (OM). The results of XRD analysis showed that the natural green hard clay has characteristics of reflections of the smectite group. After organophilization, it was observed by the XRD pattern which there was displacement peaks and a significant increase in basal spacing (d001) confirming the effective merging of the quaternary ammonium cation (Genamin®) interlayer in layers of hard green clay. The results obtained by ED-XRF, nitrogen adsorption and cation exchange capacity showed that hard green clay is typically a smectite clay. Polymeric and hybrid membranes were characterized by XRD, which showed the characteristic peaks of polyethylene, and MO, where he presented the distribution of the grain. From the tests separation of oil/water emulsion, it can be concluded that the insertion of hard green clay organophilic the UHMWPE polymer did not improve the process of separating oil/water emulsion. Among those studied, polymeric and hybrid membranes, the performances were similar in the separation of the emulsion.