Oil Absorption Capacity Of Bare And PDMS-coated PET Non-woven Fabric; Dependency Of Fiber Strand Thickness And Oil Viscosity

- Apr 08, 2020-

Highlights

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Two PET fabrics with different fiber thicknesses were superhydrophobically modified.
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PDMS was thermally deposited on PET fabrics for the modification.
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The modification enhanced the selectivity of the fabric to oil absorption.
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Oil sorption behaviors of fabrics depends on fiber thicknesses and oil viscosities.
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Fiber thickness of fabric can be optimized upon the oil spill conditions.

Abstract

Water and oil absorption behaviors of the bare and PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane)-coated PET (polyethylene terephthalate) fabrics with two different fiber strand thicknesses were investigated. PET fabrics were superhydrophobically modified by PDMS-coating via a thermal vapor deposition process. The modification greatly enhanced the selectivity of PET fabric to oil absorption from oil/water mixture, making the PDMS-coated fabric a promising candidate as an absorbent of oil spills. We have also studied oil sorption behaviors of PDMS-coated PET fabric as a function of fiber strand thicknesses and oil viscosities. In general, fabric with a thinner fiber strand thickness showed a higher maximum oil absorption capacity, whereas uptake of the oil in thicker-fiber-absorbent was faster. Based on our results, we suggest that different absorbent structures with various fiber strand thicknesses can be chosen to maximize the efficiency of oil removal, depending on oil viscosity and available oil absorption time.