Abstract
Coir, known as coconut fibers, are an abundant cellulosic source in Vietnam, which are mostly discarded when copra and coconut water are taken, causing environmental pollution and waste of potential biomass. In this research, carbon aerogels from chemically pretreated coir were successfully synthesized via simple sol-gel process with NaOH-urea solution, economical freeze-drying, and carbonization. The samples, including pretreated coir, coir aerogels, and carbon aerogels, are characterized using FTIR spectroscopy, SEM, XRD spectroscopy, and TGA. The carbon aerogels exhibit low density (0.034–0.047 g/cm3), high porosity (97.63–98.32 %), and comparable motor oil sorption capacity (22.71 g/g). The properties of carbon aerogels are compared with those of coir aerogels, indicating such better values than those of coir aerogels. Coir-derived carbon aerogels is a potential replacement for the hydrophobically-coated cellulose aerogels in term of treating oil spills.
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