Facile preparation of melamine foam with superhydrophobic performance and its system integration with prototype equipment for the clean-up of oil spills on water surface

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 833; p. 155184
• Main Authors: Mu, Lei, Yue, Xiu, Hao, Bin, Wang, Rui, Ma, Peng-Cheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 10.08.2022
• Subjects: Melamine foam; Oil-water separation; Super-hydrophobicity; Surface modification; System integration; Oil-water separation; Surface modification; Melamine foam; Super-hydrophobicity; System integration
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155184

A simple and efficient method was developed to rectify the surface properties of commercial melamine foam. The process was based on the siloxane coating originated from the silanization of methyltrimethoxysilane and tetraethoxysilane. The foam can be easily scaled up by employing low-cost chemicals and devices. The studies on the properties of the material showed that the wettability of melamine foam was changed to superhydrophobic with a water contact angle of 156° due to the presence of alkylsilane. The modified foam exhibited excellent oil/water selectivity and high oil absorption capacities of 77–163 times its own weight. The retention of absorption capacity was greater than 97% after 5000 cycles compression. These fascinating characteristics made the modified foam exceptional recyclability for commonly organic solvents and oils without obvious dissolution/swelling. Based on these inspiring results, the material can be employed for the continuous separation of various oil compounds floating on water surface with the assistance of a vacuum pump. Moreover, the prepared material was integrated with an apparatus to develop a prototype oil collector for the remediation of oil spills in a larger open-air environment. The devices could be readily used in a range of real-world applications, including industrial oil spill clean-up. [Display omitted] •The superhydrophobic melamine foam (MF) was prepared via one-step immersion method.•The modified MF can be easily scaled up by employing low-cost chemicals and devices.•The modified MF exhibited high oil absorption capacities and exceptional recyclability.•A prototype oil collector was developed based on modified MF for remediation of oil spills.