| Marine pollution by oil spillages has now become one of the major environmental concernsspilled oil is not only a waste of energy, but also leading to serious environmental pollution. Inthis paper, a blended fiber aggregate made of kapok, PET and ES fiber was fabricated byair-laying method and applied as a sorbent for oil sorption. Both oil absorption characteristic andoil interception performance of the prepared kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregate were evaluated.Meanwhile contact angle measurement and SEM analysis were employed to investigate the keyfactors affecting its adsorption property. The result from this paper would provide a technologyreference for the wide application of this fiber aggregate in oily water treatments.The main work of the paper includes three aspects as following.(1) Structure characteristic of kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregateKapok/PET/ES fiber aggregate was fabricated by air-laying method. The aggregatecontained40%kapok fiber which was analysed by qualitative and quantitative analysis method.The morphological structure and of the blended fiber aggregate were observed by SEM. ThePorosity of kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregate was98.20%.(2) Oil-absorption performance of kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregateThe oil absorption performance of kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregate was evaluated by oilsorption capability and oil-retention capability in pure oil baths, and oil-removing efficiency andselectivity in oil-over-water baths. It was found that the kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregate showed anexcellent capacity for oil adsorption with sorption capability to engine oil, vegetable oil and dieselwere63.00g/g,58.50g/g,43.81g/g,respectively. The oil retention capabilities of kapok/PET/ES fiberaggregate to three oils were above80%. When placed on oil-over-water bath, it was found that theaggregate could selectively absorb over97%of oil from water.The factors contributing to the high oil absorption capacity of kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregatewere closely related with the excellent oleophilicity of kapok and PET fibers. It was found that thecontact angle of kapok and PET fiber to engine oil, vegetable oil and diesel among40-60°. Inaddition, the stable bonding structure and the big hollow lμmen of kapok in the aggregate werealso important factors.(3) The oil interception performance of kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregateThe interception experiments of kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregate were carried out under staticand dynamic conditions. Under static condition, the interception experiment was measured on theequipment which was set up by myself. Its oil interception performance was evaluated by originaloil spill time, oil leaking rate and interception efficiency. It was found that the kapok/PET/ESfiber aggregate with original oil spill time for engine oil and vegetable oil were all above25minunder constant ratio of oil mass and aggregate mass and thickness of oil. The oil leaking rate could be divided into three stages, namely fast-increasing stage, slow-increasing stage andequilibration stage. The interception efficiency was above90%. The original oil spill time and theinterception efficiency were increased with the thickness of kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregate.Under dynamic condition, the interception experiment was measured on the equipment whichwas set up by myself. Its oil interception performance was evaluated by original oil spill time, oilleaking rate and interception efficiency. It was found that the kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregateshowed high capacity of oil interception with original oil spill time for vegetable oil was among2-6min under constant ratio of oil mass and aggregate mass and thickness of oil. The interceptionefficiency was above88%. The original oil spill time and the interception efficiency wereincreased with the thickness of kapok/PET/ES fiber aggregate, and were decreasing with speed ofwater. |
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