Abstract:
Offshore oil spills can cause instant and lasting damage to aquatic life and wildlife
around the shores. Other than that, it can cause chemical toxicity to water security,
ecological changes, food supply threats and consequently affecting tourism industry.
Superhydrophobic and superoleophilic materials have been proven to be effective oil
spill cleanup candidate. This work demonstrated the production of hydrophobic and
superoleophilic low cost activated carbon fibers (ACF) carbonised from Ceiba
Pentandra L. Gaertn or locally known as kekabu. The ACFs show significant
hydrophobic-superoleophlic features with water and contact angle > 90 ° and < 5 °,
respectively. The nano-pores on each fibers as viewed from scanning electron
microscopy (SEM), is the key reason of superoleophilic property in ACFs. Next, we
recorded a max oil sorption capacity of 96 ml oil/sorbent's weight (g). The Fourier
transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction indicate the
presence of functional groups, of which related to hydrophobicit
y
-superoleophlicity.
Hence, ACFs exhibit a great potential as low cost and effective oil sorbents.
