Electrospinnig of Recycled High Impact Polystyrene Nanofibers for Oil Spill Removal

The conventional techniques used for oil spill decontamination have many disadvantages as high operating cost, generation of secondary pollutant and complex operation techniques. Clean up and recovery processes from an oil spill are difficult and depend upon many factors, including the type and the viscosity of the oil spilled, the temperature and the type of water. Electrospun nanofibers have started to show great attention in the last three decades, they are characterized by high surface area to volume ratio and better mechanical properties. Oil sorbent nanofibers were prepared from recycled high impact polystyrene (HIPS) by the electrospinning process. The fibers surface morphology, crystallinity, hydrophobicity, and the sorption capacity over potable water and sea water were studied. The results revealed that the contact angle of HIPS fibrous sorbent reached 153 degrees and the sorption capacity for crude oil, gas oil and motor oil were 50, 62, 125 g/g, respectively. The sorption capacity is higher than regular general purpose polystyrene (PS) nanofibers making it a highly promising material for oily water purification.