One of the most important drawbacks of conventional ultrafiltration (UF) membranes which typically manufactured by phase inversion method is their low flux rate. In this study, a new type of a thin film composite (TFC) membrane with relatively high flux rate was fabricated. The TFC membrane has composed of three separate layers; a nonwoven PET support, an electrospun PAN nanofibrous midlayer and a PS nanocomposite coating top layer. The TFC membrane was compared in a separation process with an asymmetric conventional UF membrane for separating of a vegetable-oil/water emulsion. The asymmetric conventional UF membrane was fabricated from similar PS solution by phase inversion method. For this purpose, the flux rate and rejection efficiency of both membranes were determined and compared at various operating pressures. Results indicated that the TFC membrane has a higher flux rate compared to the asymmetric membrane. Furthermore, the rejection efficiency of TFC membrane was averagely two percents higher than the similar values in asymmetric membrane.
