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Reusable nanocomposite-coated polyurethane foams for the remediation of oil spills

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Abstract

Cost-effective oil absorbents for the remediation of oil spills have been developed following a facile process involving the modification of polyurethane foam surfaces with mixtures of silicon oxide nanoparticles and polydimethylsiloxane. Polyurethane foams with different pore sizes and connectivity are tested, and it was found that the proposed treatment, applied by dip coating and spray coating, strongly improves the intrinsic foams’ performance in terms of selectivity and oil absorption capacity. The modified foams reach oil absorption capacities up to 60 g/g and simultaneous negligible water uptake. The treatment is stable after multiple absorption cycles, and therefore, the foams can be reused without significant decrease in their performance, being possible, after five cycles of absorption and recovery of oil, to reach overall oil absorption capacities up to 250 g/g.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported financially by EDISON (Italy). Recticel Flexible Foams Inc. is gratefully acknowledged for providing one of the pristine PU foams characterized in this work. The authors kindly acknowledge the assistance of Alice Scarpellini (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia) for the TEM study of the nanoparticles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smart Materials, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via Morego 30, 16163, Genoa, Italy

    J. Pinto, J. A. Heredia-Guerrero, A. Athanassiou & D. Fragouli

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  1. J. Pinto
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  2. J. A. Heredia-Guerrero
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  3. A. Athanassiou
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  4. D. Fragouli
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Correspondence to J. Pinto.

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Editorial responsibility: Josef Trögl.

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Pinto, J., Heredia-Guerrero, J.A., Athanassiou, A. et al. Reusable nanocomposite-coated polyurethane foams for the remediation of oil spills. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 14, 2055–2066 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-017-1310-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-017-1310-6

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