Cost-Effective, Highly Selective and Environmentally Friendly Superhydrophobic Absorbent from Cigarette Filters for Oil Spillage Clean up

• Main Authors: Qiancheng Xiong, Qiuhong Bai, Cong Li, Huan Lei, Chaoyun Liu, Yehua Shen, Hiroshi Uyama
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-10-01
• Series: Polymers
• Subjects: cigarette filter; superhydrophobic; highly selective; absorbent; oil spillage
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/10/10/1101

Ecological and environmental damage caused by oil spillage has attracted great attention. Used cigarette filters (CF) have also caused negative environmental consequences. Converting CF to economical materials is a feasible way to address these problems. In this study, we demonstrate a simple method for production of a highly hydrophobic absorbent from CF. CF was modified by using different volume ratios of octadecyltrichlorosilane and methyltrimethoxysilane. When the volume ratio was 3:2, the modified CF had the high water contact angle of 155°. It could selectively and completely absorb silicone oil from an oil-water mixture and showed a good absorption capacity of 38.3 g/g. The absorbed oil was readily and rapidly recovered by simple mechanical squeezing, and it could be reused immediately without any additional treatments. The as-obtained superhydrophobic modified CF retained an absorption capacity of 80% for pump oil and 82% for silicone oil after 10 cycles. The modified CF showed good elasticity in the test of repeated use. The present study provides novel design of a functional material for development of hydrophobic absorbents from used CF via a facile method toward oil spillage cleanup, as well as a new recycling method of CF to alleviate environmental impacts.