Recyclable Bacterial Cellulose Aerogel for Oil and Water Separation

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC) aerogel has great potential in treating oil spill and organic pollutant. However, its inherent hydrophilicity and poor rigidity limit its practical application and recyclability. In this study, elastically compressible and high oil-absorbing aerogels were developed by freeze-drying aqueous suspensions with appropriate BC concentrations, followed by a chemical vapor deposition of methyltrimethoxysilane with ammonia as catalyst. The modi ed aerogel shows high water contact angle of 142° and enhanced compression resistance. The effect of BC concentration on the adsorption capacity and recyclability of aerogel has been investigated. The results show that the aerogel prepared with 0.3 wt% BC exhibits simultaneously high absorption capacity (121.8-284.1 g/g) and excellent recyclability. Futhermore, the aerogel could also separate chloroform-water mixture by gravity-driven ltration, giving the separation e ciency of 96.7 %. Therefore, this economical green aerogel provides a feasible strategy for solving oil leakage in industry.

Elastic white radish-based cellulose aerogel for efficient oil-water separation

“…The cellulose hydrogels HB and HB-1 were pre-frozen at -60 ℃ for 12 h and then freezing-dried for 48 h, and the obtained aerogels were named as B and B-1, respectively. Hydrophobic modi cation of cellulose aerogel: The surface of the cellulose aerogel was modi ed via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method [19] . The cellulose aerogels B and B-1were put into a sealed dryer together with two small glass bottles containing 2 mL MTMS and 2 mL NH 4 OH, respectively, and then heated at 85°C for 5 h to complete the vapor deposition.…”

Preparation of Fibrous Three-Dimensional Porous Materials and Their Research Progress in the Field of Stealth Protection

“…Therefore, their thermal conductivity is rarely below 0.020 , which affects the further improvement in their insulation and heat-preservation properties. Filling and segmenting the internal pores of fibrous porous materials with finer BC [ 63 , 113 , 114 , 115 ], cellulose nanofibers (CNF) [ 24 , 116 ] to reduce pore size is a trend for future development. When the fiber diameter cannot be further reduced, another approach is to construct an aerogel structure or prepare hollow fibers inside, making the heat transfer path more complex and gradually improving the material’s insulation performance.…”

Understanding the Effects of Cellulose Fibers from Various Pre-Treated Barley Straw on Properties of Aerogels

“…4 that the structure of all aerogel samples was damaged due to pressing removal, which leads to the destruction of pores and the loss of oil adsorption capacity [27]. It was reported that higher concentration of cellulose could be used to increase the recyclability of aerogels [47]. Note: DR V CO2 : ultra-micropore volume was determined using DR plot for CO 2 adsorption at 0 • C using a density of 1.023 g/cm 3 for adsorbed CO 2 [41,42]; SA CO2 : ultra-micropore surface area, determined from DR VCO 2 using an area of 1.9 × 10 − 19 m 2 for the area of a CO 2 molecule.…”