A Facile and Cost-Effective Method for Separation of Oil–Water Mixtures Using Polymer-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Abstract

Catastrophic oil spills and oil from waste waters such as bilge and fracking waters pose major environmental concerns. The limitations of existing cleanup techniques for benign oil remediation has inspired a recent scientific impetus to develop oil-absorbing smart nanomaterials. Magnetic nanocomposites were here designed to allow easy recovery from various systems. In this study, sorption of reference MC252 oil with easy-to-synthesize and low-cost hydrophilic polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated iron oxide nanoparticles is reported for the first time. The one-step modified polyol synthesis in air directly generates water-soluble nanoparticles. Stable polyvinylpyrrolidone-coatings are known to minimize environmental alterations of nanoparticles from aggregation and other processes. Iron oxide provides effective magnetic actuation, while both PVP and iron oxide have low toxicity. These nanoparticles gave quantitative (near 100%) oil removal under optimized conditions. The facile synthesis and ease of use represents a significant improvement over existing techniques.

Increased Plant Growth with Hematite Nanoparticle Fertilizer Drop and Determining Nanoparticle Uptake in Plants Using Multimodal Approach

“…Potting soil, pots, and seeds of chickpea (Cicer arientinum), green gram or mung bean (Vigna radiata), and black and red beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) were purchased from local grocery stores in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA, for plant growth experiments. [21,31]. In a typical synthesis conducted on a Schlenk line, the Fe(acac) 3 iron precursor (2 mmol) was added to a PVP/PEI (PVP, 0.7 g and PEI, 0.3 g) ligand mixture in the solvent, TREG.…”

Superhydrophobic Polypropylene Functionalized with Nanoparticles for Efficient Fast Static and Dynamic Separation of Spilled Oil from Water

“…The oil films on the surface of the water may affect aquatic systems by decreasing the dissolved oxygen and obstructing the rehydration process. Recent oil spill incidents such as Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon, IXTOC 1, and the first Gulf War has proved catastrophic for the marine echosystem . Apart from this, the spilled oil and organic contaminants may result in fire and explosions due to their high flammability which may bring destructive results .…”

“…Recent oil spill incidents such as Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon, IXTOC 1, and the first Gulf War has proved catastrophic for the marine echosystem. [2][3][4] Apart from this, the spilled oil and organic contaminants may result in fire and explosions due to their high flammability which may bring destructive results. [5] The conventional techniques used macroporous polypropylene sponges which displayed a water contact angle of 130°.…”

Durable and Recyclable Superhydrophobic Fabric and Mesh for Oil–Water Separation

“…[14][15][16]25,26] Hence, a variety of nanomaterials are used to generate hierarchical surface roughness necessary for superhydrophobic properties; some of these include nanodiamonds, silica, iron oxide, titania, alumina, carbon soot, and carbon nanotubes. [17,2,[18][19][20][21][22][23] To specifically exploit superhydrophobic surfaces for oil-water separation, these nanomaterials are usually deposited on porous substrates such as fabric, foam, mesh, and filter papers to fabricate the absorbent with selective wetting toward oil. [2,5] Although the available superhydrophobic materials completely repel water and absorb oil from the mixture, their industrial applications are limited due to their insufficient durability and limited recyclability.…”