Abstract
This project aims to develop a new generation of hydrophilic polymer membranes based on a biosourced polymer, Hydroxypropyl Cellulose (HPC), for application in the treatment of produced water. These polymeric membranes should replace on offshore platforms the conventional treatment processes because of their compactness, their lightness and their ability to effectively remove both oil and suspended particles. The membranes were developed using an original phase inversion method by increasing the temperature above the critical temperature (LCST-TIPS process). Two ways of membrane formation were investigated in this work according to the mode of chemical crosslinking considered, one in acid medium and the other in basic medium. Considering the acid route, the crosslinking was carried out using glutaraldehyde, while for the basic route it was carried out via PEGDE molecule. A fine control of the membrane formation process was conducted in order to control the kinetics of the whole elementary phenomena involved in the membrane morphogenesis (phase separation, solvent evaporation, and chemical crosslinking). The membranes were characterized via rheological monitoring, the analysis of the membrane morphology (SEM) and the filtration performances were investigated. The issue of hollow fibers fabrication has been also addressed during the thesis.