DEWATERING HYDROCARBON BASED ON SMART HYDROPHILIC SPONGE AND HYDROPHILIC GEL

Abstract

Sponge based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with a high-capacity, ZnCl2, Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) for the dewatering application of hydrocarbon fuel sorbents has been prepared in one-step preparation. The synthesized hydrophilic sponges were named V1 (PDMS: ZnCl2), V2 (PDMS: ZnCl2: PVA), V3 (PDMS: ZnCl2: PEG), V4 (PDMS: ZnCl2: PVA: PEG), V5 (PDMS: 2ZnCl2: PVA: PEG) and V6 (PDMS: 3ZnCl2: PVA: PEG), respectively. The characteristics of the sponges under the optical microscope and contact angle measurements show the formation of hydrophilic sponge and gel. ATR-FTIR characterization showed peaks at 3100- 3500 cm-1 and 1750-1735 cm-1 identified with the OH stretching vibration and C=O strain vibration, which can be ascribed to the acetate group of the PVA molecule which is responsible for increasing the hydrophilicity. On the addition of PEG, there is an absorption band from the C-H vibration at 941 cm-1, and absorption at 1459, 1351, 1299, and 1256 cm-1 is CH, CH2, and CH3 bending vibrations. The contact angle measurements showed that the solid hydrophilic sponge V4 has a hydrophilic character (contact angle of 45.5º). And also, the increase in ZnCl2 was proportional to the decrease in contact angle. However, in the composition of V5 and V6, the super hydrophilic character (V5 =38.8º, V6 =14.3º) did not produce a good solid hydrophilic sponge. Characteristics of optical properties show high transmittance of more than 80%.