pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S09 - Elastomers and Foams
Oral Presentation
 
 

One-Step Fabrication of Superhydrophobic and Oleophilic Sponges for Selective Oil Sorption and Oil/Water Separation

Abidli Abdelnasser (1)*, Huang Yifeng (1), Karamikamkar Solmaz (1), Asgari Mohammad (1), Park Chul B. (1)

(1) University of Toronto - Ontario - Canada

The hazard of oil pollution has increased with the growth of industrial development, exploration, production, and refining of oil. Therefore, removal of oily organic solvents from water and oil/water separation is a topic of high interest worldwide because of the ever-increasing discharge of industrial oily wastewater and frequent leakage of crude oil, particularly, in the marine environment. Thus, the treatment of oil-contaminated water is critical for environmental protection. Such oil spills in the aquatic environment are traditionally treated through different physical, chemical, thermal and biological methods. However, most of these conventional pollution management technologies fail to rapidly and efficiency respond to those disasters in a environmental-friendly fashion. For instance, chemical treatments often lead production of highly hazardous sludge and toxic compounds into the waters. In this study, pristine polymeric open-cell foams were coated for the preparation of sorbent materials taking advantage of the synergetic effect of the superhydrophobic and superoleophilic selective absorption features towards the removal of oil from water using for various oils and organic solvents. The fabricated materials showed high water contact angle indicating the successful formation of superhydrophobic layer on the sponge's surface without damaging its inherent three-dimensional porous structure offering a significant dual superhydrophobic and superoleophilic nature. The separation efficiency and selectivity was maintained even in harsh environments, including strong acidic, alkaline, salty, low/high temperature and mechanical abrasion conditions. Moreover, the fabricated sorbent materials can continuously and efficiently absorb and collect oils and organic solvents from water surfaces with high-speed using continuous vacuum pumping.