Understanding the importance of reclaiming water from a huge oily wastewater stream generated during the drilling of oil in the petroleum industry and mitigating membrane fouling, a polymeric-inorganic nanocomposite membrane was fabricated with self-cleaning properties. The photocatalytic TiO₂ nanoparticles were embedded in the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix during wet phase inversion. To enhance the separation potential and photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanoparticles, a conjugated polypyrrole (PPy) was grown on the membrane through oxidative polymerization leading to an active layer composed of PPy@TiO₂ nano-photocatalyst. The study of membrane wettability revealed the hydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic nature of the PPy@TiO₂/PVDF membrane. The PPy@TiO₂/PVDF membrane was applied for treating water-containing emulsified oily feed. Different types of feeds contaminated by different oils such as motor oil, diesel oil, and crude oil were studied. The separation efficiency of the PPy@TiO₂/PVDF membrane stayed above 99% as the membrane allowed only water to permeate while oil was rejected. The permeate pure water flux was found to be dependent upon feed pressure and the nature of oil in the feed. While keeping the separation efficiency constant at 99%, the flux was decreased with increasing concentration of oil in the feed which is attributed to the fouling of the membrane. The fouled membrane was photo-catalytically cleaned by exposing the fouled PPy@TiO₂/PVDF membrane to solar-simulated visible light as the surface features of the cleaned membrane completely resembled that of the pristine PPy@TiO₂/PVDF membrane.

了解从石油工业石油钻探过程中产生的大量含油废水流中回收水和减轻膜污染的重要性，制备了一种具有自清洁性能的聚合物-无机纳米复合膜。光催化TiO ₂纳米粒子在湿相转化过程中嵌入聚偏二氟乙烯（PVDF）基质中。_{为了增强TiO 2}纳米粒子的分离潜力和光催化活性，通过氧化聚合在膜上生长共轭聚吡咯(PPy)，形成由PPy@TiO ₂纳米光催化剂组成的活性层。膜润湿性的研究揭示了PPy@TiO ₂ /PVDF膜的亲水性和水下超疏油性。将PPy@TiO ₂ /PVDF膜应用于含水乳化油性饲料的处理。研究了被不同油类（例如机油、柴油和原油）污染的不同类型的饲料。PPy@TiO ₂ /PVDF膜的分离效率保持在99%以上，因为该膜只允许水渗透，而油被拒绝。发现渗透纯水通量取决于进料压力和进料中油的性质。在保持分离效率恒定在 99% 的同时，通量随着进料中油浓度的增加而降低，这是由于膜的污染造成的。通过将污染的PPy@TiO ₂ /PVDF膜暴露于太阳模拟可见光下，对污染的膜进行光催化清洁，因为清洁后的膜的表面特征与原始PPy@TiO ₂ /PVDF膜的表面特征完全相似。