Zirconium ion modified melamine sponge for oil and organic solvent cleanup

Xiong-Fei Zhang; Lian Song; Xinxin Chen; Yaquan Wang; Yi Feng; Jianfeng Yao

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.01.101

Zirconium ion modified melamine sponge for oil and organic solvent cleanup

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 Apr 15:566:242-247. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.01.101. Epub 2020 Jan 25.

Authors

Xiong-Fei Zhang¹, Lian Song¹, Xinxin Chen¹, Yaquan Wang¹, Yi Feng¹, Jianfeng Yao²

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Jiangsu Key Lab for the Chemistry & Utilization of Agricultural and Forest Biomass, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
² College of Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Jiangsu Key Lab for the Chemistry & Utilization of Agricultural and Forest Biomass, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China. Electronic address: jfyao@njfu.edu.cn.

PMID: 32006820
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.01.101

Abstract

Hydrophilic melamine sponge is transferred into hydrophobic melamine sponge by immersing the commercial melamine sponge cubes into zirconium oxychloride aqueous solution and followed by a simple dry process. The hydrophobicity transformation is assigned to the complex bonds constructed by the Zr⁴⁺ ions and N atoms, thus reducing the surface polarity. The modified melamine sponge presents excellent absorption capacities toward various oils and organic solvents (70-181 g/g). Its contact angle with water can reach 130° or more, and displays good oil-water selectivity for both heavy oil and light oil. Besides, the sponge has stable chemical properties and good recyclability. This work presents a facile and low-cost method for fabrication of hydrophobic materials that might be used for the cleanup of oil spills.

Keywords: Melamine sponge; Oil/water separation; Zirconium ions.