Page 63 - Plastics News May 2018

teChnoLogy

Scientists develop low cost, more effective Polymer oil absorbents

cientists have developed a polymer sponge, using waste and Amazon basin of Ecuador. The new material made
Sproducts from the petroleum and refining industries, from cheap and sustainable products will help respond to
that can quickly soak up crude oil from marine spills. these developing countries where smaller, localised spills
The polymer made from waste cooking oil and sulphur threaten groundwater, drinking water and important food
(a by-product of the petroleum industry) could make staples such as fish. "This is a new class of oil sorbents
polluted beaches, oily water, dead birds and marine life that is low-cost, scalable, and enables the efficient
destruction a thing of the past. "This is an entirely new removal and recovery of oil from water," said Chalker.
and environmentally beneficial application for polymers The researchers used the common waste substances -
made from sulphur," said Justin Chalker, from Flinders canola oil from cooking, sulphur which is a byproduct of
University in the US. "This application can consume the petroleum industry, plus sodium chloride - to create
excess waste sulphur that is stockpiled around the globe an inexpensive and sustainable sorbent that can mitigate
and may help mitigate the perennial problem of oil the ecological harm of oil pollution. Sulphur and cooking
spills in aquatic environments," said Chalker. Oil spills oils are hydrophobic, so the new the polymer has an
are a major global issue, with the International Tanker affinity for hydrocarbons such as crude oil and diesel fuel,
Owners Pollution Federation reporting about 7000 tonnes and can rapidly remove them from seawater. Laboratory
of crude oil spilling from tankers into oceans in 2017 demonstrations of the polymer's clean-up ability show that
alone. Hundreds of smaller spills of diesel fuel and other absorption of the pollutant happens within a minute of
petroleum products affect developing countries in Africa, the solution being sprinkled onto oil covering the surface
Asia and South America, for example in the Niger Delta of water.

63 May 2018 Plastics News