Waste-Plastic Bottle Derived Composite for Sorption of Oil

The global plastic pollution is massive, and overcoming it is a serious challenge. Poly ethylene terephthalate (PET) accounts for 11.7% of the plastic waste. While studies are being carried out plastic recycling, those reported for PET bottles are limited. Oil spills in aquatic bodies are a huge threat to the environment and the ecosystem. Apart from oil spills, various industries generate massive volumes of oily wastewater that requires treatment to regenerate clean water either for reuse or discharge. Most commercially available oil sorbents are made of synthetic polymers like polypropylene and polyurethane which have high sorption capacities, but the use of these introduces tons of non-biodegradable plastic in to the ecosystem.

In this work, LCBW which is acid-leached carbonaceous solid waste from gasification of refinery bottoms, has been entrapped within PET to fabricate a novel composite oil sorbent material. The composites exhibited a good oil sorption capacity of 7-8 g/g for mineral, paraffin as well as crude oils. The sorbent could also remove mineral oil from an oil in water emulsion containing ~5000 mg/L oil. The results from this study showed that a 3D porous material fabricated by a low energy and facile process, entirely from used PET bottles and carbon waste from the refinery could be effectively used as a sorbent for oil spill containment or for removal of oil from o/w emulsions in the industries. Thus, a potential way of tackling waste management as well as fabricating an effective oil sorbent material is achieved.