Porous polymer oil sorbents based on PET fibers with crosslinked copolymer coatings

Abstract

Oil sorbents-namely materials that can be used to extract oil after a spill-were fabricated from nonwoven polyethylene terephthalate (NWPET) fibers modified by the adherence of crosslinked polymer coatings to the fiber surface. The NWPET fibers, which serve as a structural support for the applied functional coatings, were produced from recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles. The oil absorbing coatings were comprised of crosslinked homopolymers and copolymers based on octadecyl acrylate (ODA), maleic anhydride (MA), and related esters of MA. The crosslinked polymer networks were synthesized by both suspension and bulk polymerization techniques using divinylbenzene (DVB) as the crosslinking agent. Efficacy of the coated NWPET fibers as oil sorbers was determined by oil absorption tests in toluene and in 10% crude oil in toluene. Rigidity, porosity and swelling of the crosslinked polymers were evaluated and correlated to the chemical structures, composition, and reaction media. Suspension polymerization yielded the desired morphology and function, providing higher porosity and in consequence a high absorption capacity.

Advanced Sorbents for Oil‐Spill Cleanup: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives

“…The PVDF polymer chains were crosslinked by a dehydrofluorination reaction (Figure d), and the crosslink degree played an important role in the final WCA of the PVDF membrane. Other polymers with low surface energy, including polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polybenzoxazine (PBZ), segmented copolymers, and polydopamine (PDA), have also been reported for the hydrophobization of hydrophilic solid surfaces.…”

“…The in situ growth method means the direct fabrication of nanocrystals in situ on smooth surfaces. Presently, various fabrication methods, including oxidation‐reduction, CVD, electrodeposition, electroless galvanic deposition, plasma deposition, and polymerization, have been proposed for the in situ growth of nanocrystals on smooth surfaces. For example, Cheng et al fabricated a coating of uniform Cu(OH) 2 nanorods on the surface of a copper mesh by in situ oxidization of the copper mesh.…”

Porous Silica Particles as Oil Absorbents: Comparison of Meso‐, Macro‐, and Meso/Macro‐Structures

“…It should be noted that the meso/macro‐porous silica showed a weight gain of 4.2 by oil, which was much higher than those of the meso‐ or macro‐silica (2.6 and 1.2, respectively) (Figures S4 and S5). The oil absorption capacities (weight gains) of the porous silica shown in Figure were generally lower than those of other absorbents that have been reported in the literature . However, it is important to mention that the weight gain changes greatly depending on the experimental methods used for its determination.…”

Analysis of emulsions concentration changes during imbibition in porous sorbents

“…A part of the literature is also dedicated to the methods of synthetic sorbents modification and estimation of their abilities to be applied for the oil-spill-derivative hydrocarbons removal (Ceylan et al 2009;Qi et al 2011;Zhu et al 2011;Lin et al 2012;Atta et al 2013;Saleem et al 2014). The efficiency of the macroporous polymeric material consisting of butyl rubber as a sorbent was investigated in laboratory conditions.…”

“…On the other hand, reutilization of such sorbent and extraction of the imbibed liquid from fibres pores can become a quite challenging and complicated process. The efficiency of non-woven polyethylene terephthalate fibres modified by the adherence of crosslinked polymer coatings to the fibre surface was evaluated by means of oil absorption experiments with toluene and crude oil as the sorbed media (Atta et al 2013). More recently, the diesel oil uptake process by a synthetic sorbent consisting of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene has also received some attention (Saleem et al 2014).…”