Characterization and Evaluation of Prudent Liquid Natural Rubber-Based Foam for Oil Spill Control Application

Oil spills have caused adverse effects on the environment calling for more efficient oil removal techniques. This study highlights the use of liquid natural rubber (LNR) as the main raw material to produce competitive and effective oil absorbents. The absorbents were produced via vulcanization with the aid of foaming agents and were then characterized in terms of morphology and oil absorption capacity. The morphology analysis shows that the absorbents formed have irregular pores of 450–500 μ\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\upmu $$\end{document}m in diameter. It was found that the oil absorption capacities of the absorbents decrease with increasing crosslinker concentration and when subjected to higher-viscosity oils. The sorption capacity of the absorbent is capped at 7.67 g g -1\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$^{-1}$$\end{document}, while the reusability of the absorbents is up to 13 times. These LNR-based absorbents open up new opportunities for potential designs of better and renewable oil absorbents.