Structural design of oil-water separation structure based on hydrophilic-hydrophobic structure of oil-bearing plants
HONG Jiaju
ZHAN Xiahua
SUN Duo
ZHANG Hongpeng
Abstract：[Objective]Petrochemical products are prone to leakage during production,transportation,and use,causing serious harm to the marine environment,marine biological resources,and coastal city environment.Therefore,there is a need to optimize the oil-water separation technology,in order to recover marine oil spills and purify the marine environment,which has important application value for marine oil pollution control and other aspects.The adsorption method,as a kind of oil-water separation technology with a good development prospect,is suitable for the treatment of marine oil spills.Its ability to deal with pollution is related to the adsorption material and adsorption structure.At present,most of the research on the adsorption method focuses on the field of material optimization,while less on adsorption structure improvement.To optimize the oil-water separation technology of the adsorption method,a feasible optimization scheme for the adsorption method from the structural level was proposed by leveraging bionics,which provides ideas for reference in this field.[Methods]In this paper,the traditional adsorption structure consisting of a single oil adsorption material was optimized,and a novel adsorption structure was proposed based on bionic engineering.Firstly,the sparse and porous characteristics of the stems of aquatic plants were analyzed,and a similar porous material,copper foam,was chosen as the main material of the adsorption structure.Then,the theoretical reason for the higher oil-water separation capacity of the internal vascular structure of oil-bearing crops was analyzed.The structure of parallel rows of oil and water channels produced the Marangoni effect,which created a tensile force between oil and water.Based on this,a laminar structure was designed,and a novel oil-water separation structure formed by interlocking of oleophilic hydrophobic and hydrophilic oleophobic materials was proposed.The hydrophilic oleophobic material was prepared by immersing copper foam into a mixture of potassium persulfate and potassium hydroxide.The oleophilic hydrophobic material was prepared by immersing copper foam into a mixture of n-hexane and polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS).The adsorption capacity of the new combined stacked adsorption structure was experimentally compared with that of the conventional single oil adsorption structure.The two adsorption structures were placed in equal volumes of emulsified and unemulsified oil-water mixtures at volume fractions of 1％,5％,and 10％,and the oil adsorption amounts of the two structures within the same time were determined.[Results]The results show that the adsorption rate and oil adsorption amount of the new structure are higher than those of the conventional single adsorption structure under most conditions.[Conclusion]The feasibility of the adsorption structure scheme with the staggered superposition of the oleophilic hydrophobic layer and the hydrophilic oleophobic layer is proved,and the addition of the hydrophilic layer can effectively improve the oil adsorption capacity of the adsorption structure.The research results provide ideas and technical guidance for the optimization of oil-water separation technology from the structural aspect.
Keywords：oil spill cleanupadsorption structurebionic engineeringoil-water separationcopper foamadsorption capacityvascular bundleoil-bearing plant
Publication Date：2025-03-31
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：7( 231-237 )