Bio-polymeric based sponges for oily waste recovery

Abstract

Over the last years, many efforts were dedicated to the development of sustainable sorbent materials. The interest concerns a wide range of applications. Oily products and utilization are increasing all over the world as far as the possibility of spill oily accidents. In this direction, production of sponges showing lipophilic properties allows for the proper disposal of oily waste and does not cause secondary pollution. In this work, it is proposed an eco-friendly technology to prepare a polycaprolactone (PCL) biodegradable sponge for the selective absorption of oil from water. PCL biopolymer matrix was melt mixed with water-soluble porogen agents and then leached in water to obtain a porous 3D structure. The intrinsic lipophilic nature of PCL made the porous device able to selectively absorb oily pollutants showing, moreover, with high efficiency and high reusability potential. Devices are characterized from morphological and mechanical point of view. Oily waste uptake was evaluated by considering 3 different oily waste (olive oil, motor oil, gasoline) and considering 50 recycles.