Insights into porous structure effect on the removal of high-viscous crude oil spill by cellulose-based aerogel with solar/electro-thermal conversion

With the growing number of crude oil spill accidents and the demand for clean sea environment, there is an urgent need for adsorbents with efficient viscosity reduction properties and oil-water separation capabilities. In this paper, superhydrophobic carboxymethyl cellulose aerogels modified by CNT with different porous structures were prepared (MCCA). By the adjustment of CNT, the aerogel possessed competent ability and stability of photo/electro-thermal conversion, which provides for its application in different work scenarios. Fast heat generation dramatically reduces the viscosity and enables speedy recapture of crude oil. Under 1.0 kW/m2 simulated solar radiation, the temperature of MCCA surface can reach 85.2 degrees C. When light power is insufficient, the temperature of MCCA can be maintained above 85 degrees C assisted by 4-6 V voltage. It's worth noting that we systematically investigated the impact of diverse porous structures on the heat and mass transfer properties of aerogels. The honeycomb aligned channel structure has lower mass transfer resistance and higher heat transfer compared to random channel. And it has higher capillary force compared with lamellar aligned channels. Therefore, honeycomb aligned channel structure aerogel becomes a promising adsorption material. Furthermore, the crude oil adsorption capacity of MCCA can reach 69 L/m3 with the assistance of photo/electro-thermal. And with the assistance of the pump it is possible to achieve all-weather, continuous and selective cleanup of oil spills on the water. This provides a guiding strategy for optimizing the performance of porous adsorbents for high viscosity crude oil treatment.