Serial-module with hydrophilic and hydrophobic membranes applied for oil recovery from O/W emulsion

Membrane demulsification has been extensively employed for separating various oil–water mixtures, however, the recovery oil droplets from highly emulsified O/W mixtures remains a challenge. Herein, we develop a serial-module comprising arranged hydrophilic and hydrophobic membranes to recover the oil phase from O/W emulsion. Firstly, hydrophobic ceramic membranes were prepared through silane modification and separation performance towards emulsion with oil–water ratio of 1:1 was evaluated for both original hydrophilic membranes and modified hydrophobic ones. Subsequent, the sclareol extraction emulsion was chosen as a representative object to investigate and explore the separation performance of preferred membranes under varying oil–water ratios and surfactant concentrations. Ultimately, the results shows that serial-module demonstrated remarkable capability to recover emulsified oil droplets from sclareol extraction emulsion with 10 vol% oil even under complex conditions with yeast addition. This innovative serial-module provides a novel approach for efficiently separating emulsified mixtures of oil and water.