Nur Hashimah Alias, Juhana Jaafar, Sadaki Samitsu, T Matsuura, AF Ismail, MHD Othman, Mukhlis A Rahman, Nur Hidayati Othman, Norfazliana Abdullah, Syafikah Huda Paiman, N Yusof, F Aziz<\/p>\n
Cost-effective purification technology of oilfield produced water (OPW) is becoming a global challenge for future petroleum exploration and production industry. Energy-efficient operation of membrane separation is potentially promising. However, severe fouling problem of oil droplets demands new robust and fouling-resistant membranes with high permeability and rejection efficiency. Here, we propose a photocatalytic nanofiber-coated inorganic hollow fiber membrane suitable for OPW treatment. The membrane was fabricated by coating polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber incorporated with graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) photocatalyst on an alumina (Al2<\/sub>O3<\/sub>) hollow fiber membrane. While the highly porous coating made of smooth hydrophilic nanofibers facilitated water permeation, the coating effectively captured oil droplets in its opening, resulting in a better rejection efficiency of oil contaminants.<\/p>\n