Oil loving hydrophobic gels made from glycerol propoxylate: Efficient and reusable sorbents for oil spill clean-up

Abstract

Glycerol propoxylate based oil loving sorbents were prepared through bulk polymerization, without using of an activator, initiator, or catalyst. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), 13C and 29Si CPMAS nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), as well as elemental analysis and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) were operated in order to identify the structural and thermal features of sorbents. The synthesized gels were employed as absorbents for various organic solvents and oils. The swelling capacity, absorption-desorption kinetics, reusability, and selective removal from an oil/water mixture were also examined. To explore the effects of a crosslinker's concentration on oil absorption capacity, star type propoxylate monomers were reacted at different concentration of tris[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]isocyanurate (ICS) crosslinker; swelling capacity was calculated using dichloromethane as an organic solvent. Oil removal ability from the water surface is another important section contained within this article.