Preparation of superhydrophobic magnetic sawdust for effective oil/water separation

Abstract

Modified commercial sponge for treatment of oil spill and organic solvent leakage has been received tremendous research and largely used in practical application, but it still possesses many drawbacks, including high cost, complicated modification process and secondary pollution. In order to discover more biodegradable oil-storage material and develop more environmentally benign modification strategy, a kind of superhydrophobic magnetic sawdust was prepared in this study via two-step dip coating of Fe3O4 particles and Candelilla wax (CW). Due to the porous structure of sawdust, magnetism of Fe3O4 particles and hydrophobicity of CW, the prepared absorbent exhibited good absorption capacity (3.59–7.83 g/g), remote controllability (magnetic saturation, 3.03 emu/g) and high water contact angle (WCA, 156.3°). In addition, the absorbent could also recover heavy oil under water in the form of caking and continuously separate oil/water mixture as a filter. We believe that the renewable sawdust with easy availability, the food grade hydrophobic modification reagent and the facile fabrication procedure would make this absorbent a promising candidate to treat oil spill and organic solvent leakage in practical application.