The separation of tiny water droplets from viscous crude oil is urgently needed and still remains a substantial challenge because of severe membrane fouling resulting from the high viscosity and adhesive property of crude oil. To solve this issue, the electrothermal effect, for the first time, was utilized to heat the water-in-crude oil emulsion using electrical current as an energy source to extremely reduce the viscosity of the water-in-crude oil emulsion and thus to realize efficient viscous emulsion separation. A silicone-modified stainless-steel mesh (SSM) was fabricated via coating silicone on the SSM and transient heating. The as-prepared silicone-modified SSM allows for an outstanding integration of superhydrophobic/superoleophilic properties from the partial thermal degradation of the silicone coating and superior electrothermal capability from SSM. Thanks to the excellent electrothermal capability, the silicone-modified SSM achieved a high electrothermal power density of 3.43 W cm^–2 at a low input voltage of 5 V. The resulting Joule heating, superhydrophobicity, and micropore structure enabled the silicone-modified SSM to efficiently separate a viscous water-in-crude oil emulsion (2.6 × 10⁴ mPa s at 20 °C) with high separation efficiency (98.9%) and separation flux (314 L m^–2 h^–1). Moreover, the silicone-modified SSM presented optimal reusability and stability after six cycles for the viscous water-in-crude oil emulsion. This electrothermal-assisted viscous emulsion separation strategy can provide some new perspectives for viscous oil/water emulsion separation.

中文翻译：

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具有优异电热性能的超疏水不锈钢网，可有效分离高粘度原油中的水乳液

迫切需要从粘性原油中分离出微小的水滴，由于原油的高粘度和粘附性导致严重的膜污染，仍然是一个巨大的挑战。为了解决这个问题，首次利用电热效应以电流为能源加热原油中的水乳液，从而极大地降低了原油中的粘度，从而实现有效的粘性乳液分离。通过在SSM上涂覆有机硅并进行瞬时加热，可以制造有机硅改性的不锈钢网（SSM）。所制备的有机硅改性的SSM可实现有机硅涂层部分热降解带来的超疏水/超亲油性能的出色整合，以及SSM的出色电热性能。由于出色的电热性能，有机硅改性的SSM达到了3.43 W cm的高电热功率密度在5 V的低输入电压下为^–2。由此产生的焦耳热，超疏水性和微孔结构使有机硅改性的SSM能够有效分离出粘性的原油状水乳液（在20°C时为2.6×10 ⁴ mPa s ）具有很高的分离效率（98.9％）和分离通量（314 L m ^–2 h ^–1）。此外，有机硅改性的SSM在粘稠的原油中水乳液中经过六个循环后表现出最佳的可重复使用性和稳定性。这种电热辅助的粘性乳状液分离策略可以为粘性油/水乳状液分离提供一些新的见解。