Diffusion and Swelling Behavior in Treatment of Oil Spill to Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Network from Oil-Absorptive Fiber

In this article, diffusion and swelling behaviors in the absorption process are investigated. The absorption about crude oil diluted with toluene floating on water shows the affinity to oil. The diffusion mode is determined by diffusion exponent n, and the values suggest that the diffusion process deviates slightly from normal Fickian behavior but not completely non-Fickian in short immersion time. The data indicate that the adsorption process of fiber onto the toluene is fit for the second-order kinetic model. Absorbency has been promoted with the increasing temperature because molecular motions are accelerated and ester-containing polymer has the high efficiency. Furthermore, Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms are adopted to describe the adsorption process. The parameters show respectively monolayer adsorption, and multilayer adsorption even heterogeneous adsorption is concomitant.