The Study On Basic Property And Oil Absorbency Of Cattail Fiber

There are plenty of cattail fiber resources in our country. But at present, most of people are lack of the understanding of cattail fiber and pay little attention to its application value. So majority of cattail fiber has been running its own course which leads to a great resource waste. In this paper, we studied the basic property of cattail fiber, tested and evaluated the oil absorbency of cattail fiber, which will enlighten new way for the cattail fiber used in the treatment of oily waster water.The main content includes four aspects as following.1 .The study on basic property of cattail fiber.The study shows that cattail fiber is tenuous and stripped. The both sides of fiber prutrude with the middle hollow. There are a series of interrupted prominent horizontal membranes on the fiber and the horizontal membrane spacings are relatively fixed. The horizontal membranes distribute with dispersion. Both sides of fiber have many bulged nodes, and the nodes spacing of same side of fiber is relatively fixed. The average length of cattail fiber is 8-9 cm. The diameter of cattail fiber from root of cattail fruit to rear part is nonuniform. The fiber of the root of cattail fruit is thicker and the rear part gets thinner gradually, while the fineness of middle partial of fibers of cattail fruit is relative stable.The cross section of cattai fiber is " (?) "or " (?) "in shape, which is familiar with the shape " (?) " or " (?) " of differential fiber, and this shape enlarges the surface of fiber consumedly, which causes fiber contacting more exterior space.There is waxiness on the cattail fiber surface and the average content of waxiness is 10.64%, which is quite high and the high waxiness content enables the cattail fiber to have the good oil absorptiveness.The crystallinity of cattail fiber is 39.6%,which is a low crystallinity nature fiber comparing with other cellulose fibers. By IR spectra analysis, the absorption bands of cattail fiber is familiar with the bands of kapok. The ingredients of cattail fiber is closed to kapok's but the purification of cellulose of cattail fiber is inferior to kapok.2.The contact angle testing of cattail fiberThe average contact angles of cattail fiber with water, soybean oil and motor oil are 130.2°,55.3°and 59.7°. The contact angle of cattail fiber with water is bigger than angle with soybean oil and motor oil, which shows that the cattail fiber has a good hydrophobic performance. The contact angle of cattail fiber with soybean oil is smaller than angle with motor oil. The sorption performance of cattail fiber to soybean oil is better than to motor oil.3. Testing and evaluation of oil absorption capacity of cattail fiberIt is found that the cattail fiber exhibits a high sorption capacity for the oil. Taking the soybean oil and the motor oil as examples, 1g cattail fiber could absorb 20-26g pure soybean oil and 19-21g pure motor oil. At the condition of the ratio of oil to water 1:8, 1g cattail fiber could absorb 18-23g soybean oil and 18-21g motor oil respectively. The sorption rate of soybean oil and motor oil by the cattail fiber increases along with the ratio of oil to water reduces.The same saturated time which the cattail fiber absorbs watery soybean oil and motor oil is 15min. The cattail fiber shows a good reusability. After 5 repeat tests, the sorption capacities of cattail fiber to soybean oil and motor oil are both above 9g.4. The factors of influence on the oil sorptionThere are many factors influencing the oil sorption, such as the weight of the cattail fiber, types of oil, the mature degree and laying time of fiber, temperature as well as solution pH value and so on. It is found that the bigger the weight of cattail fiber is, the more oil absorbs. But oil absorption does not increase linearly with the quality of fiber. The types of oil also have influences to the sorption capacity.The mature degree and laying time of fiber influences the sorption capacity. Under the same conditions, the lower the mature degree and the longer the laying time of the cattail fiber are, the lower the sorption capacity is.In addition, the higher temperature is, the lower oil absorbs. The pH value of solution has no influence on the oil sorption, but when the pH value of solution is 7, the cattail fiber has the biggest oil sorption capacity.