Oil absorption stability of modified cellulose porous materials with super compressive strength in the complex environment

Abstract

Abstract The frequent oil spill has dramatically harmed the ecosystem and human health. Therefore, developing a green, recyclable, complex environment resistant and efficient oil-water separation aerogel is necessary to absorb marine oil or industrial oil. The modified cellulose/N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA)/tannin (PCMT) composite porous materials were prepared by the sol-gel method and modification of tertbutyl acrylate (TBA). PCMT had a three-dimensional interpenetrating porous structure, good oil-water separation performance and excellent compressive strength (both can bear 7000 times of its own weight; PCMT0.2 could endure 290.3 kPa pressure at 80% strain). The unique pore structure of PCMT resulted in different oil adsorption capacities (PCMT0, PCMT0.05, PCMT0.1, and PCMT0.2 had higher adsorption capacities for petroleum ether and dichloromethane, n-hexane and dichloromethane, toluene, and toluene and dichloromethane, respectively). Importantly, PCMT had excellent adaptability to complex environments. The porous materials could maintain good hydrophobicity and oil absorption ability under the conditions of vigorous stirring, wide pH range (1 ~ 14), wide temperature range (4 ~ 160oC), ultraviolet irradiation (8 h), and tape peeling (10 times). In addition, porous materials could be used to recover oil by simple mechanical extrusion, which had certain economic significance and application potential in oil spill treatment.