Effects of modified sugar cane and plantain pseudo-stem fibers for oil spill remediation

AbstractThis article presents the experimental results on the effects of surface functionalization of plantain pseudo-stem fiber (PF) and sugar cane fiber (SF) sorbents on the absorption of crude oil and the separation oil/water mixture. The modification involved coating the SF and PF with TiO2, graphene oxide (GO), and stearic acid (SA). The fibers were cut and sonicated in hexane and ethanol in succession for ∼45 min and dried at 60 °C for 24 h. 0.5 g of PF and SF were bagged into 2 g empty tea bags. The GO and ethanol solutions of ∼3–5 mg/mL were coated onto the SF and PF and dried for 12 h and subsequently contacted with instant ocean salt and crude oil fractions. The results show that the SA, TiO2 nanoparticles, and GO sheets contribute a large surface area and high surface roughness which provide excellent hydrophobicity. The modified SF and PF recorded ∼144° and ∼126° from ∼63° and ∼46° contact angles as well as ∼10.29 g/g and ∼5.77 g/g absorption respectively. The sorbent materials demonstrate crude oil and oil/water separation indicating a promising technique for oil spill remediation.