Improvement in Oil Absorbency by Using Modified Carbon Nanotubes in Preparation of Oil Sorbents

Abstract

This article reports the first oil-absorbent cross-linked copolymer consisting of modified multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and showing high oil absorbency. Also, to investigate and evaluate the effective parameters on oil absorbency, cross-linked dodecyl methacrylate (DDMA)-diphenylacrylamide (DPAA) and DDMA-butyl acrylate (BA) copolymers were synthesized. DDMA was copolymerized with different mol% of DPAA or BA and cross-linked using azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator and various weight percentages of 1,4-butandiol dimethacrylate, methylene bisacrylamide, or vinyl group-modified MWCNT cross-linkers. The effects of monomer feed composition, cross-linker concentration, and the hydrophobicity of the copolymer units on swelling properties of the cross-linked copolymers were studied through the oil-absorbency tests. It was found that in the reactions used vinyl group-modified MWCNTs act as cross-linking agents for the free radical polymerization, carbon nanotubes (CNT) played the other roles, that is, as a comonomer and an adsorbent. The oil absorbents containing CNTs showed the highest oil absorbency (toluene, 42.6 g; crude oil, 36.0 g/g oil absorbent). Therefore, CNT-based oil absorbent can be introduced as a promising candidate for

Preparation and evaluation of a polymeric gel containing ionic liquid-functionalized MWCNTs as a novel class of organic solvent absorbent

“…It is well known that organic solvent absorbent gels should have a hydrophobic character to swell in an organic solvent media. In our previous study, MWCNTs were functionalized with acryloyl chloride and 3‐(trimethoxysilyl) propylmethacrylate and was proved that these modified MWCNTs could be applied as an efficient crosslinking agent for the preparation of MWCNT‐based polymeric gels with good three dimensional architectures . Modified MWCNTs in these polymeric absorbents played triple roles simultaneously: as an adsorbent, a comonomer and a crosslinking agent.…”

“…In our previous study, MWCNTs were functionalized with acryloyl chloride and 3-(trimethoxysilyl) propylmethacrylate and was proved that these modified MWCNTs could be applied as an efficient crosslinking agent for the preparation of MWCNT-based polymeric gels with good three dimensional architectures. [51][52][53] Modified MWCNTs in these polymeric absorbents played triple roles simultaneously: as an adsorbent, a comonomer and a crosslinking agent. We showed that the prepared polymeric absorbents containing CNTs had much higher swelling in oil and some organic solvents than those without CNTs.…”

“…In our previous works, we synthesized hydrophobic co‐polymeric gels containing modified MWCNTs with polymerizable vinyl groups on their surfaces and demonstrated that this incorporation into polymeric absorbents could improve the organic solvent absorbency of the absorbents partly due to the strong interaction between CNTs and organic solvent molecules including hydrophobic effect and π–π bonds . The prepared polymeric gels based on modified MWCNTs have shown good absorption capacities in nonpolar organic solvents but some disadvantages such as the slow organic solvent absorption speed and less swelling degree in organic solvent with higher polarity (e.g., dichloromethane) have limited their practical applications.…”

“…polymerizable vinyl groups on their surfaces and demonstrated that this incorporation into polymeric absorbents could improve the organic solvent absorbency of the absorbents partly due to the strong interaction between CNTs and organic solvent molecules including hydrophobic effect and p-p bonds. [51][52][53] The prepared polymeric gels based on modified MWCNTs have shown good absorption capacities in nonpolar organic solvents but some disadvantages such as the slow organic solvent absorption speed and less swelling degree in organic solvent with higher polarity (e.g., dichloromethane) have limited their practical applications. To overcome these limitations, in this study, we designed and prepared a new polymeric gel based on hydrophobic copolymers crosslinked by IL-functionalized MWCNTs consisting of vinyl immidazolium cation and lipophilic tetrafluoroborate counteranion.…”

Plenty of Room at the Bottom: Nanotechnology as Solution to an Old Issue in Enhanced Oil Recovery

“…Even though nanotechnology is not an EOR technique per se, the unique features found at the nanoscale allow the performance of current methods to be improved. The use of nanotechnology in chemical EOR has recently been reported in the form of polymer nano-composites (PNPs or polymer-coated nanoparticles) [3][4][5] and silica nanoparticles [6][7][8][9].…”