Development of oil sorbents from cellulose by acetylation

Abstract

Oil spills impose a global impact on the environment, living organisms and economy. This study attempted to develop materials for oil spill cleanup from acetylation of jointed grass pith and kapok fiber with acetic anhydride in solvent free system. The extent of acetylation was quantitatively determined using the degree of substitution (DS), which varied acetic anhydride content, amount of catalyst, reaction temperature and reaction time. The results showed that acetylated jointed grass pith and acetylated kapok fiber with high degree of substitution (DS=2.79 and 2.59) were achieved with 40 and 80 mL of acetic anhydride, 80˚C, 2.0 hours of reaction time using 1.5% N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) as a catalyst. The characterization of the acetylated products was evaluated by SEM, FT-IR, 13C-NMR and TGA. The acetylated product showed high sorption capacity than the non-acetylated ones. The acetylated jointed grass pith had the same oil sorption capacity as commercial sorbent at 7.46, 7.61 and 7.70 g oil/g sample for machine oil, motor oil and Bunker C, respectively. While acetylated kapok had much higher oil sorption capacity at 76.72, 76.74 and 79.89 g oil/g sample. Accordingly, the acetylated kapok fiber can be the alternative oil sorbent to substitute the non-biodegradable materials for oil spill clean up.