Hydrophilic-oleophobic copolymer composition and uses thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9517952-B2
Application number	US-201314080878-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2013
Priority date	Nov 15, 2013
Publication date	Dec 13, 2016
Grant date	Dec 13, 2016

Abstract

Provided herein are copolymers and copolymer compositions that are both hydrophilic and oleophobic. The copolymers include structural units derived from a fluoroalkyl monomer and a zwitterionic monomer. It further relates to membranes formed by coating a porous substrate with the copolymeric compositions. The copolymeric coating imparts hydrophilicity and oleophobicity/oil-tolerance to the membranes. The uses of such membranes as microfiltration membrane or ultrafiltration membrane are also provided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of treating a contaminated water comprising:
providing the contaminated water comprising water and oil;
providing a membrane comprising a porous substrate and a coating attached to the porous substrate, wherein at least one of the porous substrate or the coating comprises a copolymer comprising 1 to 10 mole % of a structural unit of formula I; and 90 to 99 mole % of a structural unit of formula II,

wherein
R 1 is a linear or branched C 1 -C 30 fluoroalkyl group;
R 2 and R 3 are independently at each occurrence a hydrogen, or a linear or branched C 1 -C 4 alkyl group;
either R 4 and R 5 are independently at each occurrence a linear or branched C 1 -C 12 alkyl group, a C 5 -C 12 carbocyclic group, or a C 5 -C 12 heterocyclic group, and R 6 and R 7 are independently at each occurrence a linear or branched C 1 -C 12 alkylene group, a linear or branched C 2 -C 12 alkenylene group, a linear or branched C 2 -C 12 alkynlene group, a C 5 -C 12 carbocyclic group, or a C 5 -C 12 heterocyclic group, or at least two of R 4 , R 5 , R 6 , or R 7 together with the nitrogen atom to which they are attached form a heterocyclic ring containing 5 to 7 atoms;
X is independently at each occurrence an —O— or —NH—;
Y is a sulfite group or a carboxylate group; and
m and n are independently at each occurrence an integer ranging from 1 to 5; and
passing the contaminated water through the membrane to generate a treated water.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contaminated water is a produced water.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contaminated water comprises total organic components in a range between 1 and 1000 ppm.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the contaminated water comprises free un-dissolved oil in a range between 1 and 500 ppm, total dissolved solids in a range between 5000 and 200000 ppm, and total suspended solids in a range between 1 and 2000 ppm.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the concentration of the suspended solids in the treated water is lower than that of the contaminated water.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the copolymer comprises 1 to 10 mole % of a structural unit of formula VII, and 90 to 99 mole % of a structural unit of formula VIII, wherein R 1 is a linear C 5 -C 8 fluoroalkyl group; and

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the porous substrate has a pore size ranging from about 0.01 micron to about 50 micron.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the porous substrate comprises a polymer selected from the group consisting of polytetrafluoroethylene, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polypropylene, polyvinylidine fluoride, polyamide, polystyrene, polyethylene, polyacrylonitrile, cellulose-based materials and combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the porous substrate is expanded polytetrafluoroethylene.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the copolymer comprises 10 mole % of the structural unit of formula VII, and 90 mole % of the structural unit of formula VIII.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein R 1 of the copolymer is —C 6 F 13 .

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Carr Louisa Ruth
• Silva James Manio
• Smigelski Jr Paul Michael
• Nichols Jason

Classifications

• C08J7/0427

  with only one layer of a composition containing a polymer binder (with more layers C08J7/042) · CPC title

• B01D61/145

  Ultrafiltration · CPC title

• B01D71/82

  characterised by the presence of specified groups, e.g. introduced by chemical after-treatment · CPC title

• C08J2433/14

  of esters containing halogen, nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen atoms in addition to the carboxy oxygen · CPC title

• B01D2325/18

  Membrane materials having mixed charged functional groups · CPC title