Functionalization of aminoalkylsilane-grafted cotton for antibacterial, thermal, and wettability properties.

Multifunctional cotton fabrics are considered a significant challenge, hindering their commercialization through a scalable and eco-friendly method. The main drawbacks that limit their wide application are the lack of antibacterial activity, wettability, and being easily damaged by fire. Herein, we report a facile synthesis technique of superhydrophobic, flame resistant and antibacterial cotton fabric production using APTES agents to achieve all the above-mentioned properties. This study optimized the chemical grafting of aminoalkylsilane on the cotton surface with different reaction times and APTES concentrations to get the highest grafting content. Chemical characterization confirmed successful aminoalkylsilane grafting on the surface of cotton fabric. Subsequently, the antibacterial activity, wettability, and flame resistance properties of aminoalkylsilane grafted cotton fabric were accurately investigated. The obtained results showed that samples at 10 h reaction time with 14% APTES concentration indicated higher grafting content which showed high enhancement. Additionally, all produced aminoalkylsilane grafted cotton demonstrated a water contact angle of higher than 115° with low surface energy as well as impressive antibacterial activity. The obtained grafted cotton could be used as a promising filter screen for separating oils from contaminated water with more than 90% separation efficiency. This method is easy, environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and practical. It can be widely used to produce superhydrophobic cotton fabric on a large scale, which holds great potential in oil-water separation energy-saving clothing and healthcare products.

Using polypropylene needle punch nonwoven sorbents as the interceptor for oil in static and dynamic water experiments.

This work was to determine the impact of pore size and thickness of sorbents besides the influence of oil properties on the performance of sorbents used as an interceptor barrier for oils in Static and dynamic water experiments. polypropylene needle punch sorbents were used. SEM test showed the porous structure of sorbents. Oil sorption test investigated that with sorbents had same thickness N1 absorbed oil 8.89 g/g of soybean oil and 7.15 g/g of motor oil. Meanwhile, sorbents with the same pore size, N6 absorbed oil 6.11 g/g of soybean oil and 5.13 g/g of motor oil. All sorbents showed a retention rate of over 75% after 24 h of dripping. Dynamic oil spreading revealed that smaller pore size and higher thickness exhibited higher height wicking. The static performance experiment showed motor oil and soybean oil started to leak at 38 and 32 min for N1, then prolonged with reducing pore size with intercepting efficiency around 70% after 600 min for motor oil and 540 min for soybean oil. In comparison, The motor oil and soybean oil started to leak at 49 and 40 min for N4 and then prolonged with increased thickness with intercepting efficiency around 70% after 480 min for motor oil and 360 min for soybean oil. Under the dynamic experiment, oils spilled quicker with initial leakage of sorbents N3 and N6 at rate flow 55.65 ml/s for motor oil and soybean oil were (41 min, 36 min) and (50 min, 41 min) while intercepting efficiency was (99%, 98.40%) and (99.33%, 98.40%).

Polypropylene/Lignin/POSS Nanocomposites: Thermal and Wettability Properties, Application in Water Remediation.

Compositing is an interesting strategy that has always been employed to introduce or enhance desired functionalities in material systems. In this paper, sponges containing polypropylene, lignin, and octavinyl-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OV-POSS) were successfully prepared via an easy and elegant strategy called thermally induced phase separation (TIPS). To fully explore the behaviour of different components of prepared sponges, properties were characterized by a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared measurement (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, wettability properties toward an organic liquid and oil were investigated. The FTIR analysis confirmed the chemical modification of the components. TGA and DSC measurements revealed thermal stability was much better with an increase in OV-POSS content. OV-POSS modified sponges exhibited ultra-hydrophobicity and high oleophilicity with water contact angles of more than 125°. The SEM revealed that POSS molecules acted as a support for reduced surface roughness. Moreover, OV-POSS-based blend sponges showed higher sorption capacities compared with other blend sponges without OV-POSS. The new blend sponges demonstrated a potential for use as sorbent engineering materials in water remediation.

Evaluation of polypropylene melt blown nonwoven as the interceptor for oil.

The present study aims to evaluate PolyPropylene meltblown nonwoven sorbents as interceptor barrier for oils (motor oil - soybean oil). Experiments carried out in oil-water bath under both static and dynamic conditions. Among tested sorbents, sorbent P3 with porosity 85.93% show high sorption capacity. In which it achieves the highest absorption values 13.13 and 11.91 g/g for motor oil and soybean oil, respectively. Followed by sorbent P2 with porosity 88.30% and sorbent P1 with porosity 91.46%. Besides, results show that sorbent P1 registered the highest oil retention rate followed by sorbent P2 and sorbent P3, respectively. The SEM observation indicates that pore size and porosity play a significant role in deciding oil sorption and retention. At static condition, oil interception performance was evaluated. oil begins to break through the interceptor barrier in sorbent P3 at 29 min for motor oil with intercepting efficiency 98.00% and at 22 min for soybean oil with intercepting efficiency 96.57%. As the thickness of the interceptor barrier increases the time for initial leakage prolonged. After oil leakage, steady oil spillage took place. The typical oil leaking rate was divided into three phases in which oils leaks sharply increased rate, decrease rate and finally gently. Under dynamic conditions, quickly oil leakage happens compared to a static condition. With water flow rate 166 ml/s, the initial oil leakage for sorbent P3 shortens at 16 min for motor oil and 7 min for soybean oil, with Interception efficiencies at 93.42% and 90.00%, respectively.

Polypropylene/lignin blend monoliths used as sorbent in oil spill cleanup.

With increasing industrial development, frequent oil spillages in water; therefore, it is imperative and challenging to develop absorbents materials that are eco-efficiency, cost-effective, and pollution prevention. In this study, sorbents obtained from Lignin incorporated with Polypropylene in different levels loading 0, 10, 20 % wt using thermally induced phase separation Technique (TIPS). The Polypropylene/Lignin blend monoliths were fabricated and compared in terms of morphological, thermal, and wetting characterizations. The successfully blending of different lignin concentrations with preserved the chemical structure of the polymer was confirmed by FTIR analysis. Thermogravimetric tests displayed that the existence of Lignin has changed the onset temperature (Tonset) of the blending sorbents, decreasing as the loading of Lignin is increased. The contact angle measurement showed a decrease in the hydrophobicity of sorbents with increasing lignin loading, Polypropylene/Lignin blend monoliths showed better absorption toward oils (soybean - engine) as compared to Polypropylene itself. PP10L showed an improvement in the oil sorption capacity around 2 times compared to the Polypropylene. These excellent features make Polypropylene/Lignin blend monoliths more competitive promising candidates than commercial absorbent.