Investigation on spilled oil absorption ability of graphene oxide coated melamine sponge

Abstract

In this 21stcentury due to rise in population there is a great demand for the energy rise in domestic and industrial sector most of our energy demand is meet through fossil fuels. The fossil fuels are non-renewable energy sources such as coal, crude oil and natural gas. The crude oil and other petroleum products are available in large quantities under the ocean. These crude oil is extracted by drilling under the deep ocean through oilrigs and transported the oil and natural gas through container ships. There is a lot of chance for the accidents to occur during transporting oil and the spillage of crude oil causes serious environmental pollution. To reduce the damage to marine ecosystem caused due to oil spill Fabrication of cost-effective and robust hydrophobic and oileophilic sponge for easy clean-up of oil spills is a highly desired way. Here we developed a novel porous melamine sponge coated with reduced graphene oxide. The reduced graphene oxide is synthesized via modified hummer’s method. The sponge is fabricated by using dip coating method. The prepared graphene oxide sponge has to be characterized by scanning electron microscope. The dip coating process increases the absorption capacity of the prepared graphene oxide sponge and the absorption capacity of RGOMS has been tested by using motor oil, pump oil, gasoline, and diesel.