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The novel cellulose aerogels developed by the NUS team boast super high oil absorption capacity.
Coated with Trimethoxy-methylsilane (MTMS), the aerogels are water repellent and are capable of absorbing oil (excluding water) up to 90 times their dry weight, making them up to four times more effective than commercial oil sorbents. Furthermore, they can be squeezed to recover over 99% of the crude oil absorbed.
The NUS team has also developed a more eco-friendly process to convert paper waste into aerogels, according to Assistant Professor Duong Hai Minh.
“Our fabrication process uses 70% less energy, produces fewer polluting emissions into the air and water, and uses less dioxins in the chlorine bleaching process. It is also faster -- the entire process only takes three days,” he said.
