With the Deepwater Horizon disaster emphasizing the need for better ways of cleaning up oil spills, scientists are reporting that unprocessed, raw cotton may be an ideal, ecologically friendly answer, with an amazing ability to
sop1 up(吸水) oil. Their report, which includes some of the first scientific data on unprocessed, raw cotton's use in crude oil spills, appears in the ACS journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.
Seshadri Ramkumar and colleagues note that a particular need exists for oil-spill
sorbents(吸着剂) that are abundantly available at
relatively2 low cost, sustainable and biodegradable. There have been extensive studies on
fibers3 such as
barley4 straw,
kapok5(木棉) and wool -- but big gaps in knowledge about their basic crude oil-uptake
mechanisms6 and no data on unprocessed raw cotton. Ramkumar's team
decided7 to fill those gaps with research on the oil sorption properties of low micronaire cotton, a form of unprocessed cotton with relatively less commercial value.
They report that each pound of the material has the ability to sop up and hold more than 30 pounds of crude oil. The cotton fibers take up oil in multiple ways, including both absorption and adsorption (in which oil sticks to the outer surface of the cotton fiber). "In contrast to
synthetic8 sorbents, raw cotton with its high crude oil sorption capacity and positive environmental footprint make it an ecologically friendly sorbent for oil spill cleanups," the report concludes.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Texas State Support Program of Cotton Incorporated and The CH Foundation.