Since the recent Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the need for environmentally friendly oil sorbents has intensified. This study deals with the sorption of crude oil by raw cotton, a biodegradable sorbent. To our best knowledge, the data related to crude oil sorption by unprocessed raw cotton and correlation with cotton characteristics such as micronaire, fineness, and maturity are unavailable. More importantly, our work quantifies the oil sorption (g/g) of low micronaire (immature) cotton. Results showed at the minimum level, low micronaire raw cotton has 30.5 g/g crude oil sorption capacity. Furthermore, the crude oil sorption capacity of low micronaire cotton was significantly higher than the sorption capacity of high micronaire cotton. Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET) surface area and environmental scanning electron microscopy analyses support the correlation between the quality characteristics of raw cotton and its oil sorption capacity. In contrast to synthetic sorbents, raw cotton with its high crude oil sorption capacity and positive environmental footprint make it an ecologically friendly sorbent for oil spill cleanups.

A novel sorbent was developed using the aligning of raw unprocessed cotton fibers leading to low-density, hydrophobic, oleophilic, and sustainable cotton batt. Cotton batting developed using immature cotton exhibited oil sorption capacity of 50.27 g/g, which is significantly higher than the oil sorption capacity of many commercial sorbents reported in the literature. Fundamental mechanisms such as adsorption, absorption, and capillary action govern the oil sorption phenomenon, which were verified using environmental scanning electron micrographs. In addition, optical microscopy was used to understand the difference in the longitudinal cross section of the mature (base range) and immature (low micronaire) cotton, which was determined quantitatively using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis. Effect of cotton characteristics such as fineness and maturity on the oil sorption capacity was also investigated. Nonwoven cotton batts consisting of immature and finer cotton fibers showed oil sorption capacity that was 7% higher than that of cotton batts developed using mature and coarser fibers.

Atmospheric pressure plasma treatment is a surface modification technique, which can be used for surface finishing and pretreatment of textiles using a broad range of reactive gases. In this study, atmospheric pressure plasma was created using a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen and was applied to polypropylene spunbond fabric. Physical properties like moisture vapor transport, pore size distribution and tensile strength were evaluated to understand the effect of the plasma treatment on spunbond polypropylene. Chemical composition of the fabric before and after plasma treatment was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The spectra showed that oxygen and nitrogen containing groups were generated on the surface of the plasma-treated fabric. Scanning electron microscope was used to observe the surface morphology of the substrate. It is evident from the capillary flow porometer results, pore size increased after plasma treatment resulting in enhanced moisture vapor transport rate. No significant decrease in breaking load was observed after the plasma treatment.

Standalone poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanowebs were developed in an environmentally friendly manner, and their breathability values were obtained. The strength of nanowebs was enhanced by heat cross-linking. Breathability values of untreated and heat cross-linked nanowebs remain the same indicating that stronger nanowebs can be developed without compromising its breathability. Transmission FTIR showed an increase in the crystallinity and no significant changes in the structure of PVA nanowebs after heat cross-linking. Stronger and breathable nanowebs can find broader applications such as tissue culture scaffolds, protective clothing liners, and air filters.

Meltblown technology has recently gained a lot of attention in the production of submicrometer fiber webs with a fiber size less than 1 μm. Single layer polypropylene meltblown webs with fiber diameters ranging from 520 to 2100 nm were produced using nano and micro dies. To our best knowledge, there are no substantial data in the public domain on the filtration characteristics of single layer stand alone submicrometer meltblown webs and their comparison with micrometer sized webs. This paper focuses on the influence of fiber diameter on the filtration characteristics of standalone single layer submicrometer and micrometer sized meltblown webs. Submicrometer single layer webs showed higher filtration efficiency and a higher quality factor, whereas webs with fiber diameters more than a micrometer showed lower filtration efficiency and a lower quality factor.