Preparation of Superhydrophobic Composites Sponge and Its Application in Oil-water Separation

doi:10.15541/jim20190181

Abstract

Abstract:

The treatment of oily wastewater has become a worldwide problem. How to effectively separate the oil-water mixture has become an urgent problem to be solved. Here, the environmental friendly and simple dipping surface modification method was used to modify the melamine sponge (MS) by using a mixture of graphene oxide (GO) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and superhydrophobic material (GPMS) was successfully prepared. Structure, morphology and composition of the obtained GPMS were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric (TG), Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Its surface wettability, compression cycle, selective adsorption performance, and continuous oil-water emulsion separation performance were systematically studied. The results show that the GPMS is superhydrophobic with hydrophobic angle up to 168°. It can undertake 50 compression cycles, selectively adsorb both floating oil and underwater heavy oil, and efficiently separate oil-water emulsion. Therefore, the GPMS is a kind of potentially applicative oil pollution control material.

Key words: melamine sponge, superhydrophobic, oil-water emulsion separation, oily wastewater

CLC Number:

O647

ZHANG Ying,ZHANG Qian,ZHANG Ruiyang,LIU Shuaizhuo,Fan Leiyi,ZHOU Ying. Preparation of Superhydrophobic Composites Sponge and Its Application in Oil-water Separation[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2020, 35(4): 475-481.

Figures/Tables 9

Fig. 1 XRD patterns of MS, GO and GPMS

Fig. 2 TG curve of MS and GPMS

Fig. 3 FT-IR spectra of MS, PTFE, GO and GPMS

Fig. 4 SEM images of MS(a,b) and GPMS(c,d) (b,d): corresponding enlarge images

Fig. 5 a) Pictures of oil and water droplets (dyed by methylene blue) on the surface of MS and GPMS, and contact angle between GPMS and water; b) Photographs of GPMS being immersed in water under an external force and freely; c) The process pictures of the water droplet fell on GPMS surface

Fig. 6 (a) Distorted extrusion pictures of GPMS; (b) Process picture of steel rule pressed GPMS; (c) Stress-strain curves of GPMS over for 50 cycles (50% strain)

Fig. 7 Selective adsorption of GPMS for (a) floating pump oil and (b) for oil (CCl4) underwater

Fig. 8 Comparison of toluene-water emulsion (a) before and (b) after separation; Micrographs of toluene-water emulsion (c) before and (d) after separation

Fig. 9 (a,b) Toluene-water emulsion separation process; (c) Micrograph contrast before and after separation of toluene-water emulsion; (d-f) Continuous separation of toluene-water emulsion

References 39

[1]	LESCHINE T M . Oil spills and the social amplification and attenuation of risk. Spill Science & Technology Bulletin, 2002,7(1):63-73.
[2]	JOYE S B . Deepwater horizon, 5 years on. Science, 2015,349(6248):592-593.
[3]	SWANNELL R P, LEE K, MCDONAGH M . Field evaluations of marine oil spill bioremediation. Microbiological Reviews, 1996,60(2):342-365.
[4]	HEAD I M, SWANNELL R P J . Bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminants in marine habitats. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 1999,10(3):234-239.
[5]	BUIST I, NEDWED T . Using herders for rapid in situ burning of oil spills on open water. International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings, 2011,2011(1):231-234.
[6]	BUIST I, POTTER S, NEDWED T , et al. Herding surfactants to contract and thicken oil spills in pack ice for in situ burning. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 2011,67(1):3-23.
[7]	BROJE V, KELLER A A . Improved mechanical oil spill recovery using an optimized geometry for the skimmer surface. Environmental Science & Technology, 2006,40(24):7914-7918.
[8]	BAYAT A, AGHAMIRI S F, MOHEB A , et al. Oil spill cleanup from sea water by sorbent materials. Chemical Engineering & Technology, 2005,28(12):1525-1528.
[9]	GONG Z, ALEF K, WILKE B M , et al. Activated carbon adsorption of PAHs from vegetable oil used in soil remediation. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2007,143(1):372-378.
[10]	FENG LIN, ZHANG ZHONG-YI, MAI ZHEN-HONG , et al. A super-hydrophobic and super-oleophilic coating mesh film for the separation of oil and water. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2004,116(15):2046-2048.
[11]	WAHI R, CHUAH L A, CHOONG T S Y , et al. Oil removal from aqueous state by natural fibrous sorbent: an overview. Separation and Purification Technology, 2013,113:51-63.
[12]	IVSHINA I B, KUYUKINA M S, KRIVORUCHKO A V , et al. Oil spill problems and sustainable response strategies through new technologies. Environmental Science Processes & Impacts, 2015,17(7):1201-1219.
[13]	SHANNON M A, BOHN P W, ELIMELECH M , et al. Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades. Nature, 2008,452:301-310.
[14]	LIU QIN, MENG KAI, DING KUI , et al. A superhydrophobic sponge with hierarchical structure as an efficient and recyclable oil absorbent. ChemPlusChem, 2015,80(9):1435-1439.
[15]	SU CHUN-PING, YANG HAO, SONG SHUANG , et al. A magnetic superhydrophilic/oleophobic sponge for continuous oil-water separation. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2017,309:366-373.
[16]	YANG XIN, WANG JIN-NAN, CHENG CHENG . Preparation of new spongy adsorbent for removal of EDTA-Cu(II) and EDTA-Ni(II) from water. Chinese Chemical Letters, 2013,24(5):383-385.
[17]	QIU LI-JUAN, ZHANG RUI-YANG, ZHANG YING , et al. Superhydrophobic, mechanically flexible and recyclable reduced graphene oxide wrapped sponge for highly efficient oil/water separation. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2018,12(3):390-399.
[18]	CHEN SHUI-LIANG, HE GUANG-HUA, HU HUAN , et al. Elastic carbon foam via direct carbonization of polymer foam for flexible electrodes and organic chemical absorption. Energy & Environmental Science, 2013,6(8):2435-2439.
[19]	GE JIN, SHI LU-AN, WANG YONG-CHAO , et al. Joule-heated graphene-wrapped sponge enables fast clean-up of viscous crude- oil spill. Nature Nanotechnology, 2017,12:434-440.
[20]	PARTHA S, LOVE D . Reduced graphene oxide modified melamine formaldehyde (rGO@MF) superhydrophobic sponge for efficient oil-water separation. Journal of Porous Materials, 2018,25:1475-1488.
[21]	SUN SHI-BING, TANG SI-KAI, CHANG XUE-TING , et al. A bifunctional melamine sponge decorated with silver-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite for oil-water separation and antibacterial applications. Applied Surface Science, 2019,473:1049-1061.
[22]	QIU LI-JUAN, ZHANG YING, LIU SHUAI-ZHUO , et al. Preparation and application of superhydrophobic and high-strength graphene oil-water separation materials. Chemical Journal of Chinese Universities, 2018,39(12):2758-2766.
[23]	WAN WEN-CHAO, ZHANG RUI-YANG, LI WEI , et al. Graphene- carbon nanotube aerogel as an ultra-light, compressible and recyclable highly efficient absorbent for oil and dyes. Environmental Science: Nano, 2016,3(1):107-113.
[24]	QIU LI-JUAN, WAN WEN-CHAO, TONG ZHONG-QIU , et al. Controllable and green synthesis of robust graphene aerogels with tunable surface properties for oil and dye adsorption. New Journal of Chemistry, 2018,42(2):1003-1009.
[25]	WAN WEN-CHAO, ZHANG FEI, YU SHAN , et al. Hydrothermal formation of graphene aerogel for oil sorption: the role of reducing agent, reaction time and temperature. New Journal of Chemistry, 2016,40(4):3040-3046.
[26]	GONG DE-LI, ZHANG BING, XUE QUN-JI , et al. Investigation of adhesion wear of filled polytetrafluoroethylene by ESCA, AES and XRD. Wear, 1990,137(1):25-39.
[27]	ZHANG YAN-HONG, SUO JIN-PING, XIAO JIAN-ZHONG . Study on improving the hardness of polytetrafluoroethylene composite by nano silica. Mechanical Engineering Materials, 2006,30(4):76-78.
[28]	PHAM V H, DICKERSON J H . Superhydrophobic silanized melamine sponges as high efficiency oil absorbent materials. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2014,6(16):14181-14188.
[29]	DEVALLENCOURT C, SAITER J M, FAFET A , et al. Thermogravimetry/Fourier transform infrared coupling investigations to study the thermal stability of melamine formaldehyde resin. Thermochimica Acta, 1995,259(1):143-151.
[30]	LIANG XUAN-XUAN, ZHANG XIAO-PING . Study on teflon pyrolysis. Chemical Industry and Engineering, 2008,25(4):314-318.
[31]	LI HUI, ZENG HONG-YAN, XING ZHE , et al. Preparation of high hydrophilic PTFE powder and its dispersion stability. Acta Polymerica Sinica, 2016, (9):1247-1253.
[32]	MERLINE D J, VUKUSIC S, ABDALA A A . Melamine formaldehyde: curing studies and reaction mechanism. Polymer Journal, 2012,45:413-419.
[33]	BINIAK S, SZYMANSKI G, SIEDLEWSKI J , et al. The characterization of activated carbons with oxygen and nitrogen surface groups. Carbon, 1997,35(12):1799-1810.
[34]	KOTI REDDY C, SHAILAJA D . Improving hydrophobicity of polyurethane by PTFE incorporation. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2015,47:132-136.
[35]	YAN FENG-YUAN, XUE QUN-JI . The interaction of PTFE/ graphite blends was studied by infrared spectroscopy. Chinese Science Bulletin, 1997,42(3):282-285.
[36]	DI ZHI-YONG, HE JIAN-PING, ZHOU JIAN-HUA , et al. Preparation of superhydrophobic coating with lotus leaf structure and its properties by organic-inorganic self-assembly. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2010,25(7):765-769.
[37]	RUAN CHANG-PING, AI KE-LONG, LI XING-BO , et al. A superhydrophobic sponge with excellent absorbency and flame retardancy. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2014,126(22):5662-5666.
[38]	WANG HUAN-JIANG, XU HAI-YAN, JIA WEI-HONG , et al. Functionalized carbon black nanoparticles used for separation of emulsified oil from oily wastewater. Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology, 2018,39(4):497-506.
[39]	WANG JIN-TAO, WANG HONG-FEI, GENG GUI-HONG . Highly efficient oil-in-water emulsion and oil layer/water mixture separation based on durably superhydrophobic sponge prepared via a facile route. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2018,127:108-116.