brOWSER: 2D Materials for Efficient Industrial Oil and Water Separation.

该项目能够开发一种简单、快速、廉价且可扩展的方法来制造纳米涂层金属网，该金属网能够有效分离油和水乳液，通常存在于石油和天然气工业中并由石油开采技术产生。这项创新的原理与鱼鳞相同，结合了相对较大和较小的孔（微米和纳米尺寸的孔隙），共同创造了一个喜欢水而强烈不喜欢油的表面。这种关系使水可以很容易地通过膜，而留下油，从混合物中分离出来。目前的技术要么依赖于使用额外的化学品来分离油和水的混合物，产生二级流出物流。可替代地，采用电动过滤系统，其昂贵且需要能量，并且迅速地被油含量堵塞。这些加压系统经常破裂，使得目前的分离过程繁琐、低效且可能造成污染。

This project enables the development of a simple, rapid, inexpensive and scalable method to fabricate a nano-coated metallic mesh capable of the efficient separation of oil and water emulsions, typically found in the oil and gas industry and resulting from oil extraction techniques. The innovation works on the same principle as fish scales with the combination of relatively large and small holes (micro and nano-sized porosity) which together create a surface that likes water and intensely dislikes oil. This relationship allows water to easily pass through the membrane while leaving the oil behind, separated from the mixture. Current technology either relies on the use of additional chemistry to separate oil and water mixtures, creating secondary effluent streams. Alternatively electrically powered filtration systems are employed which are expensive and energy demanding and rapidly become blocked by the oil content. These pressurised systems often rupture making the current process of separation cumbersome and unproductive and potentially polluting.