Title : Hydrophobic cellulose nanocomposites for efficient removal of oil spills and organic solvents
Abstract:
Oil/chemical spill accidents and oily wastewater discharge from industry have been significant global environmental threats and have attracted a great deal of attention. Oil contaminants are commonly toxic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, and hazardous to human health and aquatic organisms. Therefore, the rapid adsorption of oil from water by an efficient adsorber has become a challenging issue. This paper report soil super adsorbent hydrophobic (cellulose maleate derivatives (CMD)/Fe3O4@SiO2) with cheap and accessible materials based on cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), whose hydrophobicity can be attributed to the cross-linker of divinylbenzene (DVB), which is attached to it after the modification of cellulose by maleic anhydride. Additionally, to improve the recovery of the adsorbent from the environment, the substrate was magnetized using iron nanoparticles. Easy synthesis and ultrafast adsorption time (3 seconds), high adsorption capacity for oil and organic solvents (200−253 mg/g), and maintaining an adsorption efficiency of more than 80% in 8 consecutive cycles make it a stable, amazing, and efficient adsorbent. One of the major hurdles in deploying adsorbents is their dispersion and leakage into drinking water. This problem has been addressed by deploying a magnetized polymer that can be easily collected from water via an external magnet. As scientific progress depends on a healthy mind, which grows in a safe environment, preserving the environment and removing pollutants is the responsibility of every researcher. Finally, in this study, we attempted to prepare the simplest and least expensive adsorbent material (CMD/Fe3O4@SiO2) in the shortest possible time with the highest efficiency to remove oil and oil slicks from water.
