Self-Driven Sustainable Oil Separation from Water Surfaces by Biomimetic Adsorbing and Transporting Materials

oleh: Leonie Beek, Wilhelm Barthlott, Matthias Mail, Kai Klopp, Thomas Gries

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-12-01

Deskripsi

Oil films on water are an increasingly major contamination problem worldwide. In 2020, we published a novel adsorption and transportation technology for oil–water separation based on biological role models like the floating fern <i>Salvinia</i>. This application provides an unexpected ability for the fast and efficient removal of oil films, particularly in ecologically important freshwater biota. A single small Bionic Oil Adsorber (BOA) with 1 m<sup>2</sup> functional textile can collect up to 4 L of oil per hour, which equals about 100 m<sup>2</sup> of oil film from a water surface into a collecting vessel. This is a safe, fast, and sustainable solution for the ubiquitous contaminations of, e.g., fuel oil in freshwater environments. Here, we present updated, new experimental data, and a review of the literature published since.