Utilization of hydrophobic aerogel sorbents fabricated from plastic waste for oil-contaminated water treatment

Selim, Sarah; Osman, Doaa; Attia, Sayed; Darwish, Atef; Abdallah, Renne; Hashem, Ahmed

doi:10.21608/ejchem.2024.308250.10102

Utilization of hydrophobic aerogel sorbents fabricated from plastic waste for oil-contaminated water treatment

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute

² Ain Shams University

³ AinShams University

10.21608/ejchem.2024.308250.10102

Abstract

This investigation describes a feasible, simple modification of the thermally induced phase separation technique to produce long-lasting oil aerogel sorpents from plastic waste (low-density polyethylene waste bags, high-density polyethylene waste bottles, and polypropylene waste containers). Numerous analysis, such as bulk density and porosity determination, XRD, FTIR, SEM, AFM, contact angle, and further practical experiments, were employed to detect the physical, structural, textural, morphological, topographs, and surface wettability aspects of the entire generated aerogels. Different samples contaminated with crude oil, diesel, and, lubricating oil were utilized to evaluate the generated aerogels' sorption capacities, removal efficiency, durability, recyclability, and stable sorption-desorption cycles. It's interesting to note that polyprolylene aerogel derived from plastic waste has the highest sorption capacities (210%), removal efficiencies (99%), stable sorption-desorption cycles (7 cycle), and long lifespan of other materials. This is due to its high water contact angle (148º), hierarchical rough surface, superior porosity with polymodal pore geometries, and intrinsic stereo structures. With limited stability and reusability, both aerogels made from waste low-density and high-density polyethylene exhibit reduced oil absorption capacity and removal efficiency for all types of oil.

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