Synthesis and characterization of a porous and hydrophobic cellulose-based composite for efficient and fast oil-water separation.

Oily wastewater is generated in diverse industrial processes, and its treatment has become crucial due to increasing environmental concerns. Herein, silanized cellulose was prepared by sol-gel reaction between microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS) using for oil-water separation. The silanized cellulose was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). A higher mass ratio of HDTMS to MCC made silanized cellulose become looser, and showed lower water absorbency. The silanized cellulose exhibited specific separation performance towards vegetable oil-water mixture (not for mineral oil-water mixture) with separation efficiency of 99.93%. Moreover, the separation was fast with a water flux of 4628.5Lm(-2)h(-1). The separation efficiency still remained at 99.77% even after recycling for 10 times.