Article

pubs.acs.org/IECR

Novel Natural Sorbent for Oil Spill Cleanup

Vinitkumar Singh,† Sudheer Jinka,† Kater Hake,‡ Siva Parameswaran,§ Ronald J. Kendall,†
and Seshadri Ramkumar*,†
†
Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory and §Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock,
Texas 79409, United States
‡
Cotton Incorporated, Cary, North Carolina 27513, United States

ABSTRACT: A novel sorbent was developed using the aligning of raw unprocessed cotton fibers leading to low-density,
hydrophobic, oleophilic, and sustainable cotton batt. Cotton batting developed using immature cotton exhibited oil sorption
capacity of 50.27 g/g, which is significantly higher than the oil sorption capacity of many commercial sorbents reported in the
literature. Fundamental mechanisms such as adsorption, absorption, and capillary action govern the oil sorption phenomenon,
which were verified using environmental scanning electron micrographs. In addition, optical microscopy was used to understand
the difference in the longitudinal cross section of the mature (base range) and immature (low micronaire) cotton, which was
determined quantitatively using Brunauer−Emmett−Teller surface area analysis. Effect of cotton characteristics such as fineness
and maturity on the oil sorption capacity was also investigated. Nonwoven cotton batts consisting of immature and finer cotton
fibers showed oil sorption capacity that was 7% higher than that of cotton batts developed using mature and coarser fibers.

■ INTRODUCTION
Oil spill incidents have detrimental effects on our ecosystem
from environmental and economic points of view.1−3 Although
there have been many technological developments in processes
to extract oil from nature,4,5 available cleanup technologies to
combat any accidental or deliberate oil spill are decades old and
incompetent.6,7 More importantly, these oil spill remediation
techniques such as in situ burning, bioremediation, chemical
dispersants, and synthetic sorbents are used extensively despite
inadequate information on their environmental consequences.8
For example, most commonly used oil sorbent materials are
made from polypropylene fibers,9,10 which are not biodegrad-
able and hence may lead to secondary contamination.7 Among
the aforementioned oil remediation techniques, many research
and industrial case studies have emphasized sorbents as the
most economic and sustainable solution for effective contain-
ment of oil spills.11 Recently, numerous research groups have
attempted to investigate sustainable oil sorbents such as carbon
nanotube sponges,12,13 nanocellulose aerogels,14 and thermode-
gradable polyolefin superabsorbent,7 to name a few. Although
these materials show higher oil sorption capacity (g/g), because
of high raw material cost and complex processes involved in
developing these sorbents, using them in real-time scenarios is
still an issue. Wahi et al.15 and Majed et al.16 have extensively
reviewed the use of natural materials for oil spill cleanup.
Particularly, Wahi et al. have reported that natural fibers such as
cotton and kapok are the best materials for cleaning-up oil spills
in oil−water systems based on their sorption performance and
environmentally friendly characteristics. Overall, these authors
in their elaborate reviews have concluded that natural fibers,
because of their higher oil sorption capability, biodegradability,
and recyclability, are the preeminent materials for developing
environmentally sustainable sorbents for oil spill cleanup. It
should be noted that most of the work cited in the
aforementioned overview papers are for sorbents consisting
of loose fibers, which presumably have limited their application.
For practical applications, loose fibrous sorbents need to be
compacted in the form of mats, booms, or pads17−19 and
should be easily recoverable without leading to secondary
contamination so that these sorbents do not disintegrate when
applied to oil spill cleanup. Radetic et al.19 studied recycled
wool fibers as well as its nonwoven form to compare the
difference in oil sorption capacity. Needlepunching technology
was used in this study to develop nonwoven pads. The authors
reported that needlepunched recycled wool nonwoven webs
were easy to use in a practical scenario, but a 100% decrease in
the oil sorption capacity was observed with use of these
nonwoven webs as compared to its loose fiber form. Similarly,
Choi et al.17 investigated cotton nonwoven pads for cleaning up
oil spills and studied the effect of needlepunching process
parameters on oil sorption capacity of cotton nonwoven pads.
Although nonwoven webs developed in this study were easy to
handle, sorption capacity of these needdlepunch mats was
significantly lower than that of its loose fiber form. Their
analysis concluded that reduction in the capillary pore diameter
is the leading factor in the decrease in oil sorption capacity of
needlepunched nonwoven webs, as needlepunching makes the
structure compact. In the needlepunching process, consolidated
webs are formed wherein capillary movement is restricted
between the pores formed among mechanically interlocked
fiber assemblies. This observation was also substantiated by a
mathematical relationship between interfiber capillary uptake
and pore diameter of the nonwoven webs presented by Choi.18
As is evident from the aforementioned studies, these authors
have attempted to develop sorbents that are practically useable;
however, it was observed that sorption capacity of the
mechanically bonded nonwoven composite decreased, resulting
Received: May 13, 2014
Revised: July 9, 2014
Accepted: July 10, 2014
Published: July 10, 2014

© 2014 American Chemical Society 11954 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ie5019436 | Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2014, 53, 11954−11961
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Article

Table 1. HVI Properties of Cottona

sample micronaireb length (in.) uniformity index (%) strength (g/tex) elongation (%)
cotton-1 3.16 (0.04) 1.13 (0.01) 80.82 (0.64) 28.03 (1.08) 7 (0.74)
cotton-2 4.36 (0.03) 1.07 (0.02) 80.77 (0.61) 29.12 (0.99) 4.8 (0.21)
a
Values within parentheses indicate the standard deviation. For the micronaire measurement, the following procedure was used: one repeat per
sample and three samples per cotton type. For the length, uniformity, strength and elongation, the following procedure was used: two repeats per
sample and three samples per cotton type. bMicronaire is related to the fineness and maturity of the cotton fiber.

in poor sorption capacity and commercial acceptability. In Table 2. AFIS Properties of Cottona
addition, these authors have also concluded that further studies
fineness immature fiber content maturity
focusing on understanding nonwoven material processing sample (millitex)b (%)c ratiod
parameters are needed to develop practically useable and
cotton-1 149 (1.2) 9.93 (0.5) 0.79 (0.01)
highly efficient oil sorbents.
cotton-2 162 (1.5) 7.27 (0.3) 0.85 (0.01)
In this study, we report a novel oil sorbent which not only a
gives significantly higher oil sorption capacity along with Values within parentheses indicate the standard deviation. For the
environmental sustainability, but also is easy to use in practical fineness, immature fiber content, and maturity ratio, the following
testing procedure was used: one repeat per sample and three samples
settings. Nonwoven cotton batting for oil sorption was per cotton type. bFineness is related to the linear density of the fiber
developed using minicard to obtain unique alignment of raw (measured in millitex); the smaller the millitex value, the finer the
unprocessed cotton fibers, which heretofore has not been fiber. cImmature fiber content is relatedto the percentage of fibers with
reported. Cotton batting developed in this work resembles a less than 0.25 circularity. dMaturity ratio defines the degree of cellulose
spongy low density membrane, wherein raw cotton fibers are deposition in the process of cell-wall development. Ideally, maturity
loosely interlocked via fiber entanglement without disturbing ratio of one correlates to fully matured fiber.
the capillary network between the fibers. No bonding process
was employed so that pore structure and capillary network are Table 3. Carding Machine Details
not affected. Environmental scanning electron microscopy
particulars size speed (RPM)
(ESEM), optical microscopy, and Brunauer−Emmett−Teller
(BET) surface area analyses were performed to understand the number of flats 8 stationary
oil uptake mechanism, fiber morphology of different grades of machine width 10 in. −
cotton, and the effect of fiber specific surface area on oil feed roller 2.3 in. 0.3
sorption capability, respectively. In addition, the effect of cotton licker-in 4 in. 859
characteristics on oil sorption capacity was also studied. cylinder 10 in. 369

■
EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
Cotton Samples. Two cottons having micronaire values
3.16 and 4.31 were obtained from Plains Cotton Cooperative
Association, Lubbock, Texas. In this study, 3.16 micronaire and
4.31 micronaire correspond to discounted immature and
mature varieties of cotton, respectively, and the terms cotton-
1 and cotton-2 are used to identify these two cotton fibers in
the following sections.
Characterization of Cotton Fibers. Cotton quality
characterization using the standard and most commonly used
cotton quality testing instruments such as the high volume
instrument (HVI) and the advanced fiber information system
(AFIS) was carried out at Texas Tech University’s Fiber and
Biopolymer Research Institute. Fiber characteristics such as
micronaire, fineness, and maturity obtained using HVI and
AFIS are given in Tables 1 and 2.
Fabrication of Cotton Batt. A carding process which
individualizes fibers and aligns them in one direction20 was used
to develop cotton batt as a low-density and lofty fibrous
network of cotton fibers. Fibers were loosened by hand before
carding. Carding of cotton fibers was done in the Platt’s
minicard, wherein the fiber tufts were converted into batts of 10
in. width. Process parameters used to develop cotton batt are
given in Table 3. In this experiment, the same quantity of
cotton fibers were fed to the carding machine for both types of
cotton during the batt formation as the amount of fibers fed to
the carding machine determines the thickness and basis weight
of the batt.
Characterization of Cotton Batt. Basis weight and
thickness of cotton batt were calculated using 4 × 4 in.2
11955
doffer 6 in. 9.5
doffer comb − 1264
web collector drum 10 7
swatches cut carefully using a similar size of plastic stencil.
Thickness was measured using ASTM Standard D 5729-9721
method under a constant load of 2 kilopascals (kPa). Bulk
density of cotton batt was calculated using weight and volume
of the batt. Basis weight, thickness, and bulk density values are
given in Table 4. In addition, surface and structural morphology
Table 4. Physical Characteristics of Cotton Batta
sample gsm (g m−2) thickness (mm) bulk density (g cm−3)
cotton-1 337.48 (20.07) 4.04 (0.46) 0.085 (0.005)
cotton-2 328.16 (12.05) 4.13 (0.26) 0.078 (0.004)
a
Values within parentheses indicate the standard deviation. For basis
weight (gsm) measured in grams per square meter and bulk density
measured in grams per cubic centimeter, the following procedure was
followed: one repeat per sample and five samples per cotton type. For
thickness of the batt, the following procedure was followed: two
repeats per sample and five samples per cotton type.
of cotton fibers were studied using a Hitachi S-4800 field
emission environmental scanning electron microscope and an
optical microscope Olympus BX50, respectively. Detailed
procedures of ESEM and BET analyses techniques used in
this study have been described in our previous work.8
Sorption Testing Method. Oil sorption and retention
capacity of the cotton batt using regular motor oil was
determined using ASTM Standard F 726-06 test procedure
previously described.8,22 The schematic of the experimental
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ie5019436 | Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2014, 53, 11954−11961
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Article

Figure 1. ASTM Standard F 726-06 test method for oil sorption study. (A) Top view of cotton batt. (B) Side view of cotton batt. (C) Lofty
structure of the cotton batt. (D) Experimental setup for dynamic oil sorption study. (E) Oil bath and sample cell assembly. (F) Oil-soaked cotton
sample after soaking for 15 min. (G) Oil-draining setup. (H) Oil-soaked cotton after draining for 30 min.

Figure 2. Dynamic oil retention capacity (g/g) for cotton-1 and cotton-2 in the batt form versus time.

setup is shown in Figure 1A−H. Then, to further evaluate the and dynamic degradation analysis of the cotton batts were
practical performance of the sorbent, additional tests such as performed by following ASTM Standard F 726-12.23 The
sorbent water uptake capacity, long-term oil sorption capacity, characteristics of regular motor oil at 22 ± 1 °C were as
11956 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ie5019436 | Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2014, 53, 11954−11961
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Figure 3. Average oil sorption capacity (g/g) for cotton-1 and cotton-2 in the batt form was found to be 50.27 and 47.01, respectively. Statistical
analysis was performed using two-sample t-test. Statistical significance in oil sorption was observed between low-micronaire cotton (cotton-1,
micronaire 3.1) and regular cotton (cotton-2, micronaire 4.3). Cross bars represent standard error of means, n = 30; the region denoted by an
asterisk (*) represents P < 0.05.).
follows: density, 0.866 g cm−3; dynamic viscosity, 0.12 Pa s; and
surface tension, 30.89 mN m−1. A Kruss K-100 SF tensiometer
was used to determine surface tension and density, and a
Brookfield LV, DV++, Pro viscometer was employed to
calculate the dynamic viscosity of the oil.
Wax Extraction Analysis. Wax content of raw unprocessed
cotton was calculated using a slightly modified method based
on the AATCC Test Method 97-2009.24 Approximately 3 g of
the sample was taken and dried to a constant weight, and an
accelerated solvent extractor (Dionex ASE 100) was used with
hexane as a primary solvent to extract waxes from cotton. The
amount of waxes in cotton was determined gravimetrically
using eq 1.
⎡ A − B⎤
E=⎢ 100
⎣ A ⎥⎦
where E is percent waxes extracted, A the mass of the specimen
before the extraction (g), and B the mass of the specimen after
the extraction (g).
■ RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Numerous researchers have studied a wide range of materials
for oil spill cleanup.4−11 Recently, Hubbe et al., in their
elaborative review on cellulosic materials for oil spill cleanup,
concluded that the most important criteria to evaluate the
sorbent performance is its per unit oil sorption capacity (g/g)11
and oil retention capacity. In addition, properties that govern
the oil sorption capacity of the sorbent are mainly viscosity and
surface tension of the oil in conjunction with geometry and
pore structure of the sorbent.25 Although there have been many
reports in the literature showcasing the effect of oil viscosity
and/or surface tension on the sorption capacity of the
sorbent,26,27 limited studies investigating the effect of sorbent
structure, particularly of unprocessed raw cotton, have been
Article
reported heretofore. The main focus of our work was to
develop a novel sorbent using unprocessed raw cotton with
high oil sorption capacity, which can be used in real-life oil spill
scenarios. Important characteristics for developing an efficient
oil sorbent using cotton are (1) type of cotton used, (2) fiber
size, (3) specific surface area, (4) bulk density, (5) pore
volume, (6) fiber lumen, (7) chemical composition such as wax
content, and (8) hydrophobic and oleophilic properties.11,25
Our research primarily focuses on using environmentally
sustainable materials such as raw unprocessed cotton for oil
spill cleanup. Additionally, we focused on reducing the bulk
density of the fibrous assembly of cotton fibers using the
carding process. A lofty fibrous network of cotton fibers was
obtained (Figure 1C), which not only exhibited higher oil
(1)
sorption capacity but also was easy to handle. The dynamic oil
retention and maximum oil sorption capacities of low-grade
discounted cotton with low micronaire (cotton-1) and base
range (cotton-2) cotton batts tested using regular motor oil are
shown in Figures 2 and 3, respectively. As is evident from
Figure 2, for the first 5 min of the draining cycle, a drastic
decrease in the oil retention capacity was observed because of
the removal of excessive oil that was adhered superficially to the
surface of the sorbent.8 In other words, oil that was not
adsorbed or absorbed within the cotton batt was released from
the sorbent because of reduced capillary retention pressure
developed between the fibrous assembly8,22 owing to excessive
oil present within the lumen of the fiber as well as interfiber
capillary network.17,18,22,28 Finally, after 30 min of drain time,
sorbent−oil equilibrium was observed (Figure 2) and oil
sorption capacity was calculated. It was determined that cotton-
1 showed oil sorption capacity higher than that of cotton-2. For
cotton-1 (3.16 micronaire), 1 g absorbed 50.27 g of oil; for
cotton-2 (4.31 micronaire), 47.01 g of oil sorption capacity was.
The difference in the average oil sorption capacity observed
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Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Article

Figure 4. Relation between oil sorption capacity of raw cotton batt and its fiber characteristics such as fineness, immature fiber content, and maturity
ratio. Cotton batt consisting of finer (smaller fineness value) and immature fibers (cotton-1) has an oil sorption capacity higher than that of cotton
batt made of coarser and mature fibers (cotton-2). Cross bars represent standard error of means, n = 30.

Figure 5. ASTM Standard F 726-12 dynamic degradation test: Average water pick-up (g/g) for cotton-1 and cotton-2 in the batt form was found to
be of 5.4 and 7.1, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using two-sample t-test. Statistical significance in water pick-up was observed
between low-micronaire cotton (cotton-1, micronaire 3.1) and regular cotton (cotton-2, micronaire 4.3). (Cross bars represent standard error of
means, n = 3; the region denoted by an asterisk (*) represents P < 0.05, and the region marked as “n.s.” denotes data that are not significant.).

among these two cotton batts (cotton-1 and cotton-2) was
statistically significant as explained in Figure 4. Micronaire is a
characteristic that collectively quantifies the fiber linear density
and maturity of cotton fiber.29 In our previous report,8 we
studied extensively the influence of micronaire on oil sorption
by unprocessed raw loose cotton, and an inverse nonlinear
relationship was observed. The present study differs from our
11958
earlier work and focuses on practically applicable aligned batt
structure.
In addition, water uptake and maximum oil sorption capacity
are important parameters for evaluating effectiveness of the
sorbent for it to be used in real-time oil spill cleanup scenarios.
Therefore, static and dynamic water uptake tests for cotton
sorbent were performed, and it was observed that in the
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ie5019436 | Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2014, 53, 11954−11961
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Figure 6. ASTM Standard F 726-12 oil sorption-long test: Average oil sorption capacity (g/g) for cotton-1 and cotton-2 in the batt form was found
to be 52.5 and 45.8, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using two-sample t-test. Statistical significance in oil sorption was observed
between low-micronaire cotton (cotton-1, micronaire 3.1) and regular cotton (cotton-2, micronaire 4.3). Cross bars represent standard error of
means, n = 3; the region denoted by an asterisk (*) represents P < 0.05.).
dynamic water system, the water uptake capacity for cotton-1
and cotton-2 were 5.4 g/g and 7.1 g/g, respectively. Although
raw cotton fibers, because of the presence of waxes, are
hydrophobic in nature,8,17−19 the dynamic water uptake
capacity evidenced for these cotton batts could be attributed
to the physical trapping of water molecules within the interfiber
pores. In the static system, wherein stagnant water could not
penetrate within the bulk structure of the sorbent, very minimal
(less than 0.5 g/g) water uptake capacities were determined for
cotton-1 and cotton-2, as shown in Figure 5. More importantly,
in both dynamic and static systems, these batts passed the
dynamic degradation test (water uptake test), as sorbents were
afloat for more than 24 h, according to ASTM Standard F 726-
12. In the oil−water system, there was no visible oil sheen on
the surface of the water as the entire oil slick was completely
absorbed by the cotton sorbent. Furthermore, to evaluate the
ideal maximum oil sorption capacity of these batts, a long-term
oil sorption test was performed.23 In this test, cotton batts were
free-floated in the oil bath for 24 h for complete saturation, and
it was determined that immature cotton bats (cotton-1)
showed ideal maximum oil sorption capacity 14% higher than
that of mature cotton batts (cotton-2). As is evident from
Figures 3, 4, and 6, low-micronaire cotton shows higher oil
sorption compared to higher-micronaire cotton. More detailed
discussion on the difference in oil sorption capacity will follow
later in the discussion. Moreover, it is worth noting that
unprocessed raw cotton in the batt form shows oil sorption
capacity (50.27 g/g) significantly higher than that of various
forms of cotton sorbents used by other researchers for oil spill
cleanup.11,15,16 Therefore, we believe using unprocessed raw
cotton in the batt form would be a viable option for developing
11959
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an environmentally sustainable oil sorbent with high sorption
capacity.
The fact that sorption capacity is a function of sorbent
density has been validated by several researchers.11,25 However,
bulky fibrous substrates developed using fibers such as
milkweed, polypropylene, hemp, and carbon have been studied.
Very limited work has been reported using raw cotton; in
particular, research using raw unprocessed cotton in the batt
form has not been reported heretofore. In this work,
significantly high oil sorption capacity exhibited by raw
unprocessed cotton batts could be attributed to low bulk
density of the batt via unique arrangement of cotton fibers that
creates air pockets between fibrous networks, which act as an
oil reservoir. Also, oil is absorbed inside the cotton fiber into its
lumen, which is the hollow tubular portion in a cotton fiber. As
is evident from the ESEM micrograph (Figure 7), oil uptake
between the fibrous network via capillary uptake and within the
fiber via adsorption and absorption are dominant mechanisms
causing high oil uptake and retention.8,27,30 As briefly described
in the Introduction, Choi et al.17 have reported oil sorption
capacity of needlepunched nonwoven matts produced using
raw cotton. We differ from the aforementioned work based on
the process used to develop raw cotton sorbents. In our work, a
carding process was used to obtain aligned cotton fiber batts
with low density and hydrophobic characteristics. More
importantly, we found a significant increase in oil sorption
capacity while using cotton batts as compared to the decrease
in oil sorption capacity reported by Choi18 and Gupta et al.,31
wherein a needlepunching process was used to develop bulky
sorbents. The needlepunching process used by Choi et al. and
Gupta et al. makes cotton fibers compact, thereby reducing the
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ie5019436 | Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2014, 53, 11954−11961
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Figure 7. (a) ESEM micrograph of sorption of regular motor oil by
raw cotton batt showing complex mechanisms such as absorption and
oil uptake via interfiber capillary action. (b) Oil sorption within the
fiber causing swelling of cotton fiber is shown in the ESEM.
void space available in the sorbent, which leads to decrease in
oil sorption capacity.
Cotton Fiber Characteristics and Oil Sorption. In this
study, immature discounted cotton showed oil sorption
capacity higher than that of mature cotton, as shown in Figures
3, 4, and 6. Higher oil sorption capacity was observed for raw
unprocessed cotton fiber batts compared to sorption capacity
for cotton sorbents reported in the literature,15−18 and there
was at least a 7% difference in the sorption capacity of
immature and mature cotton batts. In addition, we have
endeavored to investigate if the difference in the oil sorption
capacity observed in these cotton batts was due to the batt
structure or the batt composition. The study also investigated
the effect of cotton fiber characteristics on the oil sorption
capacity of cotton batts. Furthermore, to eliminate the effect of
batt structure on oil sorption capacity, the process used for
developing cotton batts from cotton-1 and cotton-2 was
maintained identical; hence, no visual difference in the bulk
structure of batt of the two cottons was observed. Moreover,
quantitatively, bulk density for cotton-1 and cotton-2 were
0.085 and 0.078 g cm−3, respectively, and statistically no
significant difference was observed (*p < 0.01). Therefore, it
could be safely assumed that the batt structure played a
significant role in increasing the oil sorption capacity of cotton
batts; however, it was not the sole contributing factor for the
statistical difference observed in the average oil sorption
capacity of the two cottons in the batt form. Thus, the
difference in sorption capacity of immature and mature cotton
batts may be related to the differences in their fiber
characteristics, such as fineness, immature fiber content,
maturity ratio, and micronaire index.
It is of interest to note that cotton 1 was finer with high
immature fiber content and lower maturity ratio compared to
cotton-2. This difference may be attributed to the fact that the
immature cotton, because of less cellulose deposition, has a
collapsed structure with larger lumen, whereas in mature
cotton, there is thick cellulose deposition leading to coarse
fibers with smaller or no lumen,32 as evident in the light
micrograph shown in Figure 8. Because of the collapsed
structure and higher fineness, the available surface area for
cotton-1 (BET surface area, 0.661 m2 g−1) in the micronaire
measuring cell was higher than that of cotton-2 (BET surface
area, 0.462 m2 g−1). Therefore, cotton-1 showed a micronaire
value smaller than that of cotton-2. Furthermore, previous
researchers have proven that immature cotton has a wax
content higher than that of mature cotton.33,34 In this study,
percentage wax content values for cotton-1 and cotton-2,
11960
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Figure 8. Light micrograph of a longitudinal sectional of raw cotton
fiber. (a) In cotton-1, because of immaturity, there is less cellulose
deposition, causing collapsed structure leading to finer fibers. (b) In
cotton-2, being mature cotton, thick cellulose deposition forming an
intact secondary wall is evident.
determined according to AATCC 97-2009, were 0.633 and
0.252, respectively. Cotton-2, being mature, showed 60% less
wax than immature cotton fibers (cotton-1), and this difference
observed in the percentage wax content values were statistically
significant (p < 0.05). Thus, presence of wax on the surface of
cotton fiber aids the oleophilic nature of the fiber, leading to
higher intermolecular interaction of C−H bonds between
surface waxes and absorbed oil.30,35−37 The presence of higher
wax and enhanced fineness in low micronaire cotton leads to
increased oil sorption compared to base and high micronaire
cotton. These observations corroborate well with our earlier
work reported on crude oil sorption by raw cotton fibers,
wherein higher oil sorption capacity for immature cotton was
found.8
■
CONCLUSIONS
In summary, environmentally friendly, low-density, hydro-
phobic cotton batts have been developed using the fiber-
aligning carding process without the use of any synthetic or
natural binders. Cotton batts obtained using low-grade and
regular-grade cottons were examined as potential oil sorbents.
Low-grade cotton batt showed oil sorption capacity 7% higher
than regular-grade cotton. ESEM analysis performed on oil-
soaked cotton confirmed the occurrence of sorption mecha-
nisms such as absorption and capillary action for absorption
and retention of oil in the cotton fiber assembly. Light
micrographic images showed the presence of a collapsed
structure in low-grade cotton, resulting in lower micronaire and
increased fineness, exhibiting oil sorption capacity higher than
that of regular-grade cotton. Overall, the significantly higher oil
sorption capacity (50.27 g/g) observed for low micronaire
cotton batt clearly demonstrates the potential for these batts to
be used as an environmentally sustainable material for oil spill
cleanup. The structure of the cotton assembly, in this case the
batt form, and the characteristics of raw cotton influence the
overall oil sorption capacity.
■
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*Tel.: 806 742 4567. E-mail: s.ramkumar@ttu.edu.
Author Contributions
All the authors contributed to the work. V.S. and S.R. designed
and executed the study.All the authors approve the manuscript.
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ie5019436 | Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2014, 53, 11954−11961
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
■
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The work was supported by the Texas State Support Program
of Cotton Incorporated (Grants TX08-307 and TX 12-119)
and The CH Foundation, Lubbock, TX. We acknowledge
Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., TX for supporting the research,
Dr. Eric Hequet, Texas Tech University for helping with fiber
evaluation, and Mr. Riaz Ahmad, Quantachrome Instruments,
for the BET testing. The authors also acknowledge Dr. Todd
Anderson, Texas Tech University, for allowing the usage of the
wax extraction instrument.
■
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