Hydrophobic magnetic bilayer micro-particles from OA@Lignin@Fe3O4 for high-efficient oil adsorption

Abstract

Marine oil or heavy oil spills occur frequently, causing pollution and endangering lives in marine, sea and river, even the soil. In this paper, a magnetic, hydrophobic and bilayer composite oleic acid@Lignin@Fe3O4 was synthesized by a simple method to remove oil contaminants floating on water. SEM, TEM, FT-IR, TGA, XRD, VSM and CA analyses were used to examine its structures, chemical composition and performance. With an oleic acid (OA) monolayer on surface, OA@Lignin@Fe3O4 microspheres showed excellent oil adsorption performance with quick adsorption equilibrium of 10 s, good adsorption capacity of 3.07, 3.52, 3.04 and 2.53 times its original weight for vacuum pump oil, soybean oil, dimethicone and kerosene, respectively. Furthermore, the OA@Lignin@Fe3O4 could be guided to collect oil droplets and separated from water under a magnetic field. Meanwhile, the OA@Lignin@Fe3O4 exhibited high cycle performance, which maintained high oil adsorption capacity after 5 recycles. Therefore, the OA@Lignin@Fe3O4 is believed to a promising adsorbent for oil removal and provides a novel avenue for multifunctional adsorbents in water treatment.