Hydrophobic modified melamine sponge for highly effective remediation of crude oil in water and soil

Crude oil pollution in water and soil has resulted in considerable environmental damage. The utilization of hydrophobic and oleophilic sponge materials for the treatment of crude oil pollution has garnered significant interest, owing to their excellent selective adsorption performance. In this paper, superhydrophobic and superoleophilic sponges (SMF) are prepared by a simple silane hydrolysis-thermal curing method, which is low-cost, environmentally friendly, large-scale preparation, acid and alkali-resistant, and mechanically stable. They can be used for the remediation of oil pollutants in water and soil simultaneously, and show high efficiency, excellent stability, and biosafety. Under appropriate circumstances, SMF is capable of adsorbing up to 82.7 g/g of crude oil in water and eliminating over 70.0 % of crude oil in soil, while exhibiting exceptional recycling performance. Notably, this study introduces a novel technique that alters soil viscosity by controlling soil water content, in conjunction with SMF, for the removal of crude oil in soil. Consequently, SMF shows great promise for practical application in the remediation of oil pollutants in both water and soil.