Journal of Bionic Engineering (2024) 21:913–923 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-023-00461-8 

Long?Lasting Filtration of Oily Water by Anti?Fouling Underwater Oleophobic Sand Particles

 Xingyu Liu1,2 · Junxu Chen2  · Rui Wang2  · Yifan Su2  · Zhangheng Zhou2  · Zezhong Hou2  · Zhuoran Li2  · Junhao Zhao2  · Weicai Shi3  · Xinquan Yu2  · Zhaopeng Yu2,4,5 · Youfa Zhang1,2

1 State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Float Glass, CNBM Research Institute for Advanced Glass Materials Group Co., Ltd, Bengbu 233000, China 2 Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China 3 Research Institute of Petroleum Engineering Technology of Jiangsu Oilfeld, Yangzhou 225009, China 4 Kunshan Industrial Technology Research Institute, Kunshan 215300, Suzhou, China 5 School of Automotive Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu 215500, Suzhou, China

AbstractThe produced water from the oilfeld was purifed with flter material and then injected back into the ground. The serpentine flter material was easy to harden with the increase in fltration amount, which afected the water quality. A superhydrophilic/ underwater oleophobic serpentine flter material was successfully prepared by a simple method of coating modifcation, which exhibited long-lasting fltration of oily water, good fltration and anti-fouling properties, and resistance to harden. The flm-forming material of the superhydrophilic/underwater oleophobic coating was composed of SiO2 particles with small size, which could completely and evenly cover the flter particle. The weight loss was only 7.6% after mechanical stirring for 90 min. Compared with the original flter material, the superhydrophilic/underwater oleophobic serpentine flter material showed a better anti-fouling ability and resistance to harden. The fltration of crude oil emulsion and oil slick sewage showed a better backwashing performance. After 35 cycles of continuous fltration of suspended solids in wastewater, the backwashing rate reached 78.4%. The results provided an efective method for the fltration of oily wastewater in the oilfeld. 

Keywords Serpentine · Underwater oleophobic · Water immersion resistance · Anti-fouling · Hardening resistance