Booth Id:
MATS058T
Category:
Materials Science
Year:
2019
Finalist Names:
Chaisawat, Apisara (School: Demonstration School of Prince of Songkla University)
Sukjuntra, Punpom (School: Demonstration School of Prince of Songkla University)
Abstract:
Recently, oil spill and chemical leakage from industrial activities have been found to reveal catastrophic effects on marine and aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, the removal and collection of organic pollutants from water surfaces have attracted the worldwide attention. One of the effective methods is the use of oil absorbent materials. In this study, an environment-friendly oil absorbent material was prepared from natural rubber, where the oil absorbency was further extended by designing suitable process to be natural rubber latex foam modified in order to increase the efficiency of oil absorbency itself. This process was achieved by varying speed rates of a beater. The results showed that the different speed rates of beater affected cell structure, density and oil absorbency of rubber oil absorbent. The oil absorbency was found to be 12.77, 25.84, 32.19 and 14.19 g/g in the crude oil and also 7.91, 15.18, 22.81 and 13.04 g/g in diesel oil, respectively. These results corresponded to the speed rates of 90, 135, 180 and 225 rpm. The optimum oil absorbency was given at a 180 rpm speed rate. The oil absorbency of this material was comparable to that of conventional materials based on polyurethane foam and nonwoven polypropylene. Furthermore, rubber oil absorbent could be used for several times. As for the practical use, the findings indicate that this material possesses highly selective to oil rather than water. This suggests that this material provides high possibility to use as an oil absorbent material for oil spill remediation.