For separation of oil andwater mixture using ultrafiltration (UF), polysulfone (Psf)membranes were synthesized
by phase inversion method using N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). In order to achieve both higher permeation
flux and fouling resistance, modification of Psf has been done by adding polymeric additives such as polyvinylpyrrolidone
(PVP), polyetherimide (PEI), polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyethersulfone (PES). Pure Psf membrane
showed a lower flux of about 0.26 Lm−2 h−1which on PVP addition helped to enhance flux to the highest
value of 33.66 L m−2 h−1. The performance in oil and water separation in terms of rejection efficiency with respect
to the concentration polarisation phenomenon was measured for each modified Psf membrane. The morphology
and hydrophilicity of the modified membranes were investigated by a scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) and contact angle analysis respectively. The UF experimental results using synthetic vegetable oil–water
mixture showed that retention of oil over the membrane was nearly 99.8% for Psf/PVP membrane and also
have excellent oil-fouling resistance ability even during dead-end batch UF under higher operation pressure.