Application of polystyrene Nanofibers filled with sawdust as separator pads for separation of oil spills

Abstract In this work we report the use of separator pads made of polystyrene nanofibers filled with sawdust for the separation of oil spills. The polystyrene nanofiber membrane was first synthetized using two electrospinning and impregnation methods, and then the synthetized pads were filled with different types of sawdust including willows, poplars and chipboards. The proposed pads were utilized for the separation of oil spills from aqueous solutions. Pre-experiments showed that the poplar sawdust with particle size in the range 40–60 mesh had the highest sorption capacity for the separation of different oil spills. The adsorption capacity of the pads synthetized by the both electrospinning and impregnation methods for the separation of the all types of oil spills decreased with increasing reaction temperature. Moreover, their sorption capacity decreased with increasing pH up to natural pH, and then slightly increased by increasing the solution pH. The results showed that under optimum conditions (reaction temperature = 25 °C, pH = 4, and contact time = 1 min), the adsorption capacities of the proposed pads by impregnation method for the separation of motor oil, diesel oil, furnace oil, and crude oil were 1, 0.63, 0.97 and 0.59 g/g, respectively. Moreover, the adsorption capacities of the pads prepared by electrospinning method for the mentioned oils were 1.41, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.1 g/g, respectively. The synthesized pads made of polystyrene nanofibers and sawdust offered a high efficiency for the removal of different types of oil spills, and therefore they can be used as cheap, available, reusable, eco-friendly and efficient technology for the separation of oil pollution in water aqueous.