One-step fabrication of superhydrophobic and superoleophilic cigarette filters for oil-water separation

Abstract

To develop a simple and efficient way to recycle used cigarette filters, we report on a one-step method for preparing superhydrophobic and superoleophilic cigarette filters for oil-water separation. The robust coating layer on the surface of the cellulose acetate fiber, along with the inherent rough texture of the cigarette filter, could lead to its surface that displayed superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity. Water droplets can retain in spherical shapes on the modified cigarette filters, while oils were immediately absorbed by the cigarette filters with high absorption capacity. As a result, free oil-water mixtures were separated with efficiency of above 98.0% by the driving force of gravity, and water-in-oil emulsion was also separated with a promising flux of about 2500 L m −2 h −1 . The purity of oil for the tested emulsion was above 99.96%, indicating extremely high separation efficiency. This method for the fabrication of the superhydrophobic and superoleophilic cigarette filters would be a good candidate for recycling the solid wastes and developing an economic oil-water separation material to meet emerging needs in practical applications.

Facile Fabrication of Recyclable, Superhydrophobic, and Oleophilic Sorbent from Waste Cigarette Filters for the Sequestration of Oil Pollutants from an Aqueous Environment

“…The fabrication process for the adsorbent started with the collection and cleaning of the filters before shredding. The shredded cigarette filters were soaked in ethanol under utrasonication for 1 h to remove impurities, and were subsequently hydrolysed in 1 molar sodium hydroxide solution for 10 min to enhance the roughness of the surfaces of the filters [18]. The filters were washed in distilled water until the supernatant was clear.…”

Cost-effective, Highly Selective and Environmentally Friendly Superhydrophobic Absorbent from Cigarette Filters for Oil Spillage Cleanup

“…In the research by Ou et al, used CF was modified by hexadecyltrimethoxysilane to clean up oil spills on water [5]. Liu et al reported a superhydrophobic and superoleophilic CF modified by octadecyltrichlorosilane for oil-water separation [32]. In this study, we report a simple and environmentally friendly method for preparation of superhydrophobic CF via methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) and octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) and the application for oil-water separation.…”

“…Cellulose not only has good biodegradability and biocompatibility, but also has excellent thermal and chemical stability [21,22]. Many materials derived from fibers have been used for oil-water separation, for instance, cellulose polyesters [23,24], cellulose acetate [25,26], organogelator-cellulose [27], cellulose aerogels [28,29], cotton [30], paper[31] and CF [5,32]. Here, our goal is to transform CF into a superhydrophobic absorbent that can be repeatedly used for removal of spilled oils from water.…”

“…[31] and CF [5,32]. Here, our goal is to transform CF into a superhydrophobic absorbent that can be repeatedly used for removal of spilled oils from water.…”

Superhydrophobic Polypyrrole-Coated Cigarette Filters for Effective Oil/Water Separation

“…If cigarette filters can be used as an oil/water separation material, this can effectively solve the problem of the difficult recycling and degradation of waste cigarette filters. In the research process, we found that there are few cases of oil/water separation in the field of cigarette filter recycling [26][27][28]. The polymerization of silane coupling agents is the main method used in the literature to prepare superhydrophobic cigarette filters.…”