King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Zafarullah Khan

Tahar Laoui

Karen K Gleason

Mohamed A Antar

Rong Yang

Mohammed Abdul Azeem

Noman Naseeb

Hafiz Zahid Shafi

Bassel Alaa Awad Abdelkader

A hybrid membrane, particularly of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/graphene oxide (GO)/SiO, separates oil and water even from emulsions. The membrane can be made by one-step electrospinning, adding GO and SiOnanofillers in PAN in various concentrations. The nanofillers may be uniformly embedded in the nanofibrous structure of the electrospun hybrid membrane, with GO mainly embedded inside the PAN nanofibers and may cause knots, and/or SiOnanoparticles embedded on the nanofiber surface and may form micro-nano fiber surface protrusions. Hierarchical structures formed can have enhanced hydrophilicity due to oxygen-containing groups on both SiOand GO, and have &#x3e;99% oil rejection from oil-water emulsions. Separation flux and phase rejection of gravity separation may be enhanced by incorporation of nanofillers, which may also enhance membrane mechanical properties. Separated water flux may be enhanced from 2600 (pure PAN) to 3151 Lmhfor the hybrid.

Hybrid membrane and method for separating oil and water

A method of deionizing saline water by contacting the saline water with a diffusion barrier to remove at least a portion of divalent ions to form deionized water, in order to desalinate the deionized water without scale formation, and a method of fabricating the diffusion barrier. Various embodiments of the diffusion barrier, the method of fabricating thereof, and the method of deionizing the saline water are provided.

Method of deionizing saline water with a diffusion barrier

Disclosed are methods of preparing antifouling coatings on reverse osmosis membranes with initiated chemical vapor deposition. The coatings enhance the stability and lifetime of membranes without sacrificing performance characteristics, such as permeability or salt retention.

Development of zwitterionic coatings that confer ultra anti-biofouling properties to commercial reverse osmosis membranes

Growing community of inventors

Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Zafarullah Khan