Skin-Replaceable Antifouling Cellulose Ceramic Membranes from Jute Agro-Waste for Sustainable and Efficient Oily Wastewater Treatment

Skin-Replaceable Antifouling Cellulose Ceramic Membranes from Jute Agro-Waste for Sustainable and Efficient Oily Wastewater Treatment | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Skin-Replaceable Antifouling Cellulose Ceramic Membranes from Jute Agro-Waste for Sustainable and Efficient Oily Wastewater Treatment Nadeem Baig, Tauqir Ahmad, Ali Sufyan, Muhammad Bilal Asif, Kawthar Alqudaihi, and 7 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7765159/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 03 Jan, 2026 Read the published version in npj Clean Water → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Oily wastewater presents a serious environmental challenge, demanding sustainable and regenerative membrane technologies. Here, we report a green and scalable method for fabricating skin-replaceable cellulose membranes (SRC-M) from jute agro-waste, using a NaOH/urea activation route and argon-pressurized deposition onto ceramic supports. The resulting Cellulose II -based asymmetric membranes exhibit high water flux (~470 L m⁻² h⁻¹) and >98% oil rejection across various emulsions. Notably, the membrane’s surface can be fully renewed via ultrasonication, restoring >99% of the original flux after 16 fouling cycles. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm the thermodynamic stability (ΔG = -0.162 eV) and low kinetic barrier (0.46 eV) of urea adsorption on cellulose, supporting the dissolution mechanism and regeneration behavior. This biodegradable, self-renewable membrane system offers a robust, circular solution for long-term oily wastewater remediation and aligns with green chemistry principles. Physical sciences/Chemistry Physical sciences/Engineering Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences Physical sciences/Materials science Biodegradable polymer jute cellulose green chemistry sustainability antifouling clean water produced water Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files JALSupplementaryMaterials.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 03 Jan, 2026 Read the published version in npj Clean Water → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 26 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 23 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 17 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 13 Oct, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 12 Oct, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 11 Oct, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 11 Oct, 2025 First submitted to journal 02 Oct, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7765159","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":534009509,"identity":"7ec7076a-5a34-4e61-8ea4-8daf923daa2a","order_by":0,"name":"Nadeem Baig","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nadeem","middleName":"","lastName":"Baig","suffix":""},{"id":534009510,"identity":"eb26d09f-55a9-4977-9a16-73e9c9d00413","order_by":1,"name":"Tauqir Ahmad","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tauqir","middleName":"","lastName":"Ahmad","suffix":""},{"id":534009511,"identity":"db3e5394-2a3b-430d-a796-baf7ba37ccf4","order_by":2,"name":"Ali Sufyan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Lund University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ali","middleName":"","lastName":"Sufyan","suffix":""},{"id":534009512,"identity":"605a4bf5-428a-45fc-9815-f185bce2c75b","order_by":3,"name":"Muhammad Bilal Asif","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Southampton","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Muhammad","middleName":"Bilal","lastName":"Asif","suffix":""},{"id":534009513,"identity":"e23c8d7d-6120-4fe5-b852-3127dc426a18","order_by":4,"name":"Kawthar Alqudaihi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kawthar","middleName":"","lastName":"Alqudaihi","suffix":""},{"id":534009514,"identity":"6c11f725-06b7-4e37-a34a-fa477d16db04","order_by":5,"name":"Balqees Alrwaily","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Balqees","middleName":"","lastName":"Alrwaily","suffix":""},{"id":534009515,"identity":"b3560cc1-48dc-47bf-9de2-cef4ceae4258","order_by":6,"name":"Md. 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Here, we report a green and scalable method for fabricating skin-replaceable cellulose membranes (SRC-M) from jute agro-waste, using a NaOH/urea activation route and argon-pressurized deposition onto ceramic supports. The resulting Cellulose \u003cstrong\u003eII\u003c/strong\u003e-based asymmetric membranes exhibit high water flux (~470 L m⁻² h⁻¹) and \u0026gt;98% oil rejection across various emulsions. Notably, the membrane’s surface can be fully renewed via ultrasonication, restoring \u0026gt;99% of the original flux after 16 fouling cycles. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm the thermodynamic stability (ΔG = -0.162 eV) and low kinetic barrier (0.46 eV) of urea adsorption on cellulose, supporting the dissolution mechanism and regeneration behavior. This biodegradable, self-renewable membrane system offers a robust, circular solution for long-term oily wastewater remediation and aligns with green chemistry principles.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Skin-Replaceable Antifouling Cellulose Ceramic Membranes from Jute Agro-Waste for Sustainable and Efficient Oily Wastewater Treatment","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-27 10:35:56","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7765159/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-10-26T13:19:15+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-23T13:53:46+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-17T16:05:56+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"332650471092439119321866890457737764432","date":"2025-10-15T09:23:39+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"66612579224632158172311642209613864748","date":"2025-10-15T08:32:43+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"62946349363573790786066811965333670080","date":"2025-10-13T10:13:23+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-10-12T14:16:54+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-10-11T20:14:08+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-10-11T15:49:14+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"npj Clean Water","date":"2025-10-02T09:02:35+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"npj-clean-water","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"npjcleanwater","sideBox":"Learn more about [npj Clean Water](http://www.nature.com/npjcleanwater/)","snPcode":"41545","submissionUrl":"https://mts-onc.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex","title":"npj Clean Water","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"NPJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"29ac0665-646a-45b5-8f2b-3fe19ce14bcc","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 27th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":56779730,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry"},{"id":56779731,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"},{"id":56779732,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences"},{"id":56779733,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-05T16:00:08+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7765159","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41545-025-00538-3","journal":{"identity":"npj-clean-water","isVorOnly":false,"title":"npj Clean Water"},"publishedOn":"2026-01-03 15:57:39","publishedOnDateReadable":"January 3rd, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-27 10:35:56","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41545-025-00538-3","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41545-025-00538-3","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7765159","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7765159","identity":"rs-7765159","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}