Construction of superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic corn stalk/konjac glucomannan aerogel for high-efficiency oil/water emulsion separation

• Published in: The Korean journal of chemical engineering Vol. 39; no. 10; pp. 2664 - 2674
• Main Authors: Wang, Wenfeng, Mou, Lu, Yang, Di, Wang, Yuanhao, Yang, Fan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-10-2022; Springer Nature B.V; 한국화학공학회
• Subjects: Aerogels; Agricultural wastes; Antifouling; Biotechnology; Catalysis; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Corn; Efficiency; Emulsions; Environmental Engineering; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Industrial development; Industrial wastes; Materials Science; Separation; Sol-gel processes; Toluene; Underwater construction; Wastewater treatment; 화학공학; Waste Corn Stalk; Antifouling Property; Oil/water Separation; Aerogel; Underwater Superoleophobicity
• ISSN: 0256-1115; 1975-7220
• DOI: 10.1007/s11814-022-1133-0

An anti-fouling aerogel with superior separation performance for separation of oil/water emulsion is of great significance to industrial development due to continuously increasing oily industrial wastewater. Herein, a superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic porous biobased aerogel with a three-dimensional network structure was prepared by the agricultural waste corn stalk (CS) incorporated with konjac glucomannan (KGM) through simple sol-gel and freeze-drying methods. The oil/water separation mechanisms and the effect of aerogel structural changes on the separation performance of CS/KGM aerogel for oil-in-water emulsions are discussed in detail. Using toluene as an oil phase, CS
3.50
K
1.25
exhibited outstanding separation performance with an excellent separation efficiency above 96.26% and a high permeate flux above 2,381 L m
−2
h
−1
for oil-in-water emulsions. As expected, the separation efficiency and permeation flux can be wholly recovered after washing, indicating the aerogel possesses good sustainability. Moreover, CS/KGM aerogel has the advantages of low cost, simple preparation, eco-friendly and anti-fouling, revealing a promising candidate for the treatment of oily wastewater pollution.