Oily wastewater is a major problem in industries that can cause severe environmental pollution without proper treatment. In this paper, an easily fabricated, robust and durable nonwoven fibrous filter mat was prepared for coalescence filtration of four kinds of oil-in-water emulsions, namely hexadecane/water, octane/water, soybean oil/water and engine oil/water. An aromatic thermoplastic polyurethane resin (TPU) was selected to bind the fibers together for structure integrity of the mat. Special roughening treatment to the mat was conducted to deliver the required wettability for effective coalescence separation of these emulsions. The filter mat thus prepared reached a tensile strength of 2.99 MPa, 20 times stronger than that of the pristine mat. The mat surface was made both hydrophilic and superoleophilic, allowing it to have separation efficiency as high as 99.61% in a single pass flow. Moreover, even pre-saturated with oil, the mat remained effective in separation and permitted high flow, proving its high caliber for potential industrial applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.