Emulsified oil fouling resistant cellulose acetate-MoS₂-nanocomposite membrane for oily wastewater remediation

This study evaluated the performance stability of amphiphilic cellulose acetate-MoS₂-nanocomposite membranes (CMN) on oil removal and flux, oil fouling trends, as well as MoS₂'s catalytic peroxidase-like efficiency for oily wastewater treatment. When H₂O₂ was present in the feed, the membrane consistently achieved oil removal rates as high as 83.12 %, with only <10 % flux decline over an 80-minute filtration. During longer-term filtration of 4–6 h, the CMN membrane also exhibited significantly lower overall flux decline rates compared to the neat membrane with flux decline rates of 16.27 %, which was half of the cellulose membrane flux of 39.38 %. The fouling resistant performance was underpinned by the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) via catalytic reactions of MoS₂ and H₂O₂. Coumarin was use as ROS scavenging agent and confirmed that the ROS amount was affected by the MoS₂ and H₂O₂ dosages. The CMN membrane achieved the oil removal to the permissible discharge limit for low concentration wastewater. As a low-pressure membrane, it offered advantages of less energy consumption and continuously operating mode without frequent chemical cleaning and desorption. These findings support the CMN membrane's potential as a promising solution for treating industrial oily wastewater.