Abstract
Oily wastewater is an urgent issue that threatens the ecosystem and human health. Superhydrophobic porous materials are widely concerned as promising candidates for effective oil/water separation and oil adsorption. However, superhydrophobic porous materials are still confronted with frustrations such as complex preparation processes and secondary pollution to the environment. Superhydrophobic porous materials with biodegradability and a relatively simple preparation process are more attractive to practical application and environmental protection. In this work, biodegradable and industrially applied polylactic acid (PLA) nonwoven materials were used as porous membranes, then PLA nanoparticles were loaded on the membrane surface to construct the hierarchical rough structure. The modified PLA nonwoven membrane (nano-PLA) shows superhydrophobicity and efficient oil/water separation performance. Moreover, strong mechanical strength and acceptable toughness are obtained. This work offers an easily controlled and industrially used pathway for the design of robust, highly selective, and biodegradable oil/water separation materials.
Highlights
In recent years, abundant oily wastewater generated in industrial fields such as textiles, food processing, metal smelting, leather reform, and petrochemicals, as well as crude oil waste caused by frequent offshore oil spills, have attracted increasing attentions due to the already revealed critical threats to the ecosystem and human health [1,2,3]
Biodegradable and industrially applied polylactic acid (PLA)nonwoven materials were used as porous membranes, PLA nanoparticles were loaded on the membrane surface to construct the hierarchical rough structure
The diameter of PLA nanoparticles was determined by two factors: (1) the volume fraction of alcohol in the oil phase; (2) PLA concentration in the oil phase
Summary
Abundant oily wastewater generated in industrial fields such as textiles, food processing, metal smelting, leather reform, and petrochemicals, as well as crude oil waste caused by frequent offshore oil spills, have attracted increasing attentions due to the already revealed critical threats to the ecosystem and human health [1,2,3]. With a deep understanding of the special wettability, a membrane with the characteristic of selectively wetting provides a reliable method for achieving highly efficient oil/water separation performance [7, 8]. The chemical composition essentially determines the intrinsic property of the free energy of the solid surface and plays a decisive role in the wetting characteristics of the material. Zhang [12] et al constructed a multi-level rough structure on polyacrylic acid (PAA) - grafted polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) (PAA-g-PVDF) microfiltration membrane by using a salt-induced phase inversion method. This superhydrophilic membrane could effectively separate oil/water mixture under the action of gravity
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