Fabrication and evaluation of nanocellulose sponge for oil/water separation

Patchiya Phanthong; Prasert Reubroycharoen; Suwadee Kongparakul; Chanatip Samart; Zhongde Wang; Xiaogang Hao; Abuliti Abudula; Guoqing Guan

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.02.066

Fabrication and evaluation of nanocellulose sponge for oil/water separation

Carbohydr Polym. 2018 Jun 15:190:184-189. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.02.066. Epub 2018 Feb 22.

Authors

Patchiya Phanthong¹, Prasert Reubroycharoen², Suwadee Kongparakul³, Chanatip Samart³, Zhongde Wang⁴, Xiaogang Hao⁴, Abuliti Abudula¹, Guoqing Guan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, 1-Bunkyocho, Hirosaki 036-8560, Japan.
² Department of Chemical Technology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
³ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030024, PR China.
⁵ Graduate School of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, 1-Bunkyocho, Hirosaki 036-8560, Japan; North Japan Research Institute for Sustainable Energy (NJRISE), Hirosaki University, 2-1-3, Matsubara, Aomori 030-0813, Japan. Electronic address: guan@hirosaki-u.ac.jp.

PMID: 29628236
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.02.066

Abstract

Nanocellulose sponge was fabricated by a facile method: freeze-drying of nanocellulose aqueous suspension to sponge state, following by hydrophobic treatment with stearoyl chloride at 50 °C for 1 h. The obtained nanocellulose sponge showed superhydrophobicity (160° of water contact angle) and superoleophilicity with high protection from water but selective absorption of oil. Its absorption capacities for various kinds of oil and non-polar liquids were 25-55 times higher than its dry weight and exhibited excellent selectivity for absorbing of oil which spilled on the surface of water or underwater with high separation efficiency. This superhydrophobic nanocellulose sponge can be easily recovered by simple squeezing and reused at least 10 cycles with remained high separation efficiency. It is expected that such a biodegradable nanocellulose sponge can be applied to solve the oil spill accident and treat the oily wastewater from households and industries.

Keywords: Nanocellulose; Oil absorbent; Oil/water separation; Sponge; Superhydrophobicity; Superoleophilicity.