Abstract
Solar-driven absorption has been emerging as a promising technology to clean up crude oil. The photothermal performance of porous absorbents reduces the viscosity of crude oil and allows in-situ oil absorption and desalination when exposed to solar irradiation. However, the process of crude oil recovery (e.g., squeeze) will inevitably damage the properties of the absorbent, seriously reducing its long-term efficacy. Herein, an innovative strategy is designed for in-situ solar-driven crude oil recovery and desalination technology for long-term efficacy without any surface degradation or biofouling. A dual-function photothermal aerogel (PCM@WA) was prepared by modifying delignified wood with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and molybdenum dioxide (MoO2). The aerogel displays an efficient crude oil absorption of 35.4 g/g under one sun irradiation. In multiple absorption-recovery cycles, the decline in oil absorption ability promotes the water transport capacity of the aerogel, providing PCM@WA with excellent solar steam generation performance. It exhibits a high and stable evaporation rate of 1.96 kg/m2/h and the total metal removal efficiency is over 99.8%. The strategy combining crude oil absorption with seawater desalination not only extends the device life but also fully exploits the photothermal conversion technology to handle environmental pollution and energy crisis.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51872266). The authors would like to thank Gang Li from Shiyanjia Lab (www.shiyanjia.com) for for paper duplication checking service. We also acknowledgment Haigang Lv from Henan Worun Environmental Protection Technology Co. (www.hnwrep.com) for TOC and COD test.
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National Natural Science Foundation of China (51872266).
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CS: Investigation, methodology, data curation, writing-original draft. XC: Investigation, data curation. visualization, validation. GX: Investigation, formal analysis. ZJ: Investigation. WX: Review and editing. NA: Review and editing. XL: Review and editing. MSI: Conceptualization, review and editing. WL: Conceptualization, project administration, writing-review and editing.
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Song, C., Chen, X., Xu, G. et al. Bifunctional cellulose-based aerogel for in-situ solar-driven crude oil recovery and desalination: an effective approach towards marine life protection. Cellulose 30, 7265–7276 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-023-05330-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-023-05330-5