Cleaning oil spills with renewable wood sponges
Development of reusable wood sponges to selectively soak up oil from water.
© American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
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Transcript
SPEAKER 1: We've all heard the saying oil and water don't mix. So why is it so hard to clean up oil spills in the ocean or greasy industrial discharges from rivers? It's because the oil often forms small droplets that quickly disperse over a large area of water. Now researchers have created sponges made from wood that selectively absorb oil and then can be squeezed out and used again. They report the results in ASC Nano.
Over the years, scientists have tried different ways to clean up oily water, from burning to bio-remediation. But these methods are often expensive, not very efficient, or create secondary pollution. Cha Ching Wang and colleagues wanted to develop a sponge made from wood, a renewable resource, that would absorb oil and tolerate repeated squeezing.
Other researchers have explored similar 3D porous materials. But these were often difficult to make, too fragile, or built from non-renewable resources. The team made the wood sponge by treating natural balsa wood with chemicals to strip away the cell wall components lignin and hemicellulose, leaving behind a cellulose skeleton. They then modified this highly porous structure with a coating that attracted oil but not water.
When placed in a mixture of water and silicone oil, the wood sponge removed all of the red dyed oil, leaving clean water behind. The sponge absorbed up to 41 times its own weight, depending on the oil tested, which is comparable to or better than many other reported absorbents. In addition, the sponge could endure at least 10 cycles of absorption and squeezing.
The researchers incorporated the wood sponge into an oil collecting device that continuously separated oil from the water surface. They say that the low cost sustainable wood sponges show great potential for cleaning up oil spills and other greasy pollutants.
Over the years, scientists have tried different ways to clean up oily water, from burning to bio-remediation. But these methods are often expensive, not very efficient, or create secondary pollution. Cha Ching Wang and colleagues wanted to develop a sponge made from wood, a renewable resource, that would absorb oil and tolerate repeated squeezing.
Other researchers have explored similar 3D porous materials. But these were often difficult to make, too fragile, or built from non-renewable resources. The team made the wood sponge by treating natural balsa wood with chemicals to strip away the cell wall components lignin and hemicellulose, leaving behind a cellulose skeleton. They then modified this highly porous structure with a coating that attracted oil but not water.
When placed in a mixture of water and silicone oil, the wood sponge removed all of the red dyed oil, leaving clean water behind. The sponge absorbed up to 41 times its own weight, depending on the oil tested, which is comparable to or better than many other reported absorbents. In addition, the sponge could endure at least 10 cycles of absorption and squeezing.
The researchers incorporated the wood sponge into an oil collecting device that continuously separated oil from the water surface. They say that the low cost sustainable wood sponges show great potential for cleaning up oil spills and other greasy pollutants.