Preparation and Characterization of Cellulose Grafted with Epoxidized Soybean Oil Aerogels for Oil-Absorbing Materials

Abstract

The absorbent materials synthesized from biosources with low cost and high selectivity for oils and organic solvents have attracted increasing attention in the field of oil spillage and discharge of organic chemicals. We developed a convenient surface-grafting method to prepare efficient and recyclable biobased aerogels from epoxidized soybean oil (ESO)modified cellulose at room temperature. The porous network-like structure of the cellulose aerogel was still fully retained after undergoing hydrophobic modification with ESO. Moreover, the modified aerogels possessed excellent hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 132.6°. Moreover, the absorbent ability of the hydrophobic cellulose aerogels was systematically assessed. The results showed that modified aerogels could retain more than 90% absorption capacity even after 30 absorption− desorption cycles, indicating that the ESO-grafted cellulose aerogels have practical applications in the oil−water separation from industrial wastewater and oil-leakage removal.

Chemically Functionalized Cellulose Nanocrystals as Reactive Filler in Bio-Based Polyurethane Foams

“…In the literature, few examples of the formation of modified cellulose by hydrophobic polyols are reported. In 2019, Xu et al [ 24 ] grafted cellulose pulp with polymeric epoxidized soybean oil (ESO), as a renewable environmentally friendly and low-cost raw material, with the aim to prepare oil-absorbing materials. In the same year, Gorade et al [ 25 ] achieved microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) with hydrophobic property by means of chemical transesterification using rice bran oil (RBO).…”

Biorefinery Approach for Aerogels

“…al. prepared porous cellulose grafted with epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) in mild conditions, but most notably reported crude oil initial absorption capacity of 37 g/g which after 30 adsorption cycles decreased to 33 g/g or above 90% of initial capacity [193]. Aalbers et al prepared CNC foams functionalized with a methacrylate and then further modified them using thiol-ene click chemistry to prepare five different types of surface modifications, but the authors noted that extensive modification and use of organic solvents lead to the collapse of porous structure and the best result yielded on average 2.90 mL/g per five repeated cycles of xylene absorption [194].…”

Controllable synthesis of in situ grown titanate hierarchical microspheres and subsequent chemical modifications for superhydrophobic and oil–water separation properties

“…Nowadays, oily wastewater that originates from daily and industrial sewerage is becoming a severe environmental issue that is increasingly threatening human health. [1][2][3][4][5] It is rather urgent to develop effective and economically-friendly approaches, on the one hand for cleaning up oil-water mixture, and on the other for saving resources through oil purication and recycling from oily wastewater. Although various methods and techniques e.g.…”

“…centrifuges, 6 depth ltrations, 7 skimming and oil-absorbing materials etc. 2,8,9 have been extensively explored, a simple, efficient and economic strategy to directly ltrate oil from oily wastewater is still required.…”