Polyethylene and Polyvinyl Chloride-Blended Polystyrene Nanofibrous Sorbents and Their Application in the Removal of Various Oil Spills

Polymers provide a wide range of properties, and these properties can be greatly enhanced and modified through polymer blending. Polymer blending combines the properties and advantages of their original polymers. This paper showcases hydrophobic polymers prepared through polymer blending; these blen...

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Main Authors: Mohamed. A. Alnaqbi, Afra G. Al Blooshi, Yaser E. Greish
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020-01-01
Series:Advances in Polymer Technology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/4097520
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author Mohamed. A. Alnaqbi
Afra G. Al Blooshi
Yaser E. Greish
author_facet Mohamed. A. Alnaqbi
Afra G. Al Blooshi
Yaser E. Greish
author_sort Mohamed. A. Alnaqbi
collection DOAJ
description Polymers provide a wide range of properties, and these properties can be greatly enhanced and modified through polymer blending. Polymer blending combines the properties and advantages of their original polymers. This paper showcases hydrophobic polymers prepared through polymer blending; these blends are characterized and evaluated for their efficiency in the removal of crude oil spills from aqueous media. The application of these blends holds a great deal of importance in preserving the environment and the recovery of lost oil in spills. The blends are produced using polystyrene (PS) as the matrix polymer and individually blending poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and polyethylene (PE) with the PS consisting of proportions of 5–20 wt.% each. The blends are then electrospun into bead-free microfibers with interconnected porosities as shown by their respective scanned electron micrographs. All fibrous sorbents showed a high affinity towards the removal of crude oil, motor oil, and diesel spills. The highly viscous motor spill showed a different pattern of sorption onto fibers than that of crude oil and diesel spills. Upon comparing all the studied electrospun fibers to commercially available polypropylene fibrous sorbents, results show that the sorption efficiency of the electrospun fibers is superior. Most notably, both PS-PE5 and PS-PVC5 fibers showed to be highly more effective than commercially available polypropylene (PP) sorbents towards all types of oil spills.
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issn 0730-6679
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publishDate 2020-01-01
publisher Wiley
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series Advances in Polymer Technology
spelling doaj-art-d523e57d08c4495490c32cee719de1062025-08-20T02:19:58ZengWileyAdvances in Polymer Technology0730-66791098-23292020-01-01202010.1155/2020/40975204097520Polyethylene and Polyvinyl Chloride-Blended Polystyrene Nanofibrous Sorbents and Their Application in the Removal of Various Oil SpillsMohamed. A. Alnaqbi0Afra G. Al Blooshi1Yaser E. Greish2Department of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEDepartment of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEDepartment of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEPolymers provide a wide range of properties, and these properties can be greatly enhanced and modified through polymer blending. Polymer blending combines the properties and advantages of their original polymers. This paper showcases hydrophobic polymers prepared through polymer blending; these blends are characterized and evaluated for their efficiency in the removal of crude oil spills from aqueous media. The application of these blends holds a great deal of importance in preserving the environment and the recovery of lost oil in spills. The blends are produced using polystyrene (PS) as the matrix polymer and individually blending poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and polyethylene (PE) with the PS consisting of proportions of 5–20 wt.% each. The blends are then electrospun into bead-free microfibers with interconnected porosities as shown by their respective scanned electron micrographs. All fibrous sorbents showed a high affinity towards the removal of crude oil, motor oil, and diesel spills. The highly viscous motor spill showed a different pattern of sorption onto fibers than that of crude oil and diesel spills. Upon comparing all the studied electrospun fibers to commercially available polypropylene fibrous sorbents, results show that the sorption efficiency of the electrospun fibers is superior. Most notably, both PS-PE5 and PS-PVC5 fibers showed to be highly more effective than commercially available polypropylene (PP) sorbents towards all types of oil spills.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/4097520
spellingShingle Mohamed. A. Alnaqbi
Afra G. Al Blooshi
Yaser E. Greish
Polyethylene and Polyvinyl Chloride-Blended Polystyrene Nanofibrous Sorbents and Their Application in the Removal of Various Oil Spills
Advances in Polymer Technology
title Polyethylene and Polyvinyl Chloride-Blended Polystyrene Nanofibrous Sorbents and Their Application in the Removal of Various Oil Spills
title_full Polyethylene and Polyvinyl Chloride-Blended Polystyrene Nanofibrous Sorbents and Their Application in the Removal of Various Oil Spills
title_fullStr Polyethylene and Polyvinyl Chloride-Blended Polystyrene Nanofibrous Sorbents and Their Application in the Removal of Various Oil Spills
title_full_unstemmed Polyethylene and Polyvinyl Chloride-Blended Polystyrene Nanofibrous Sorbents and Their Application in the Removal of Various Oil Spills
title_short Polyethylene and Polyvinyl Chloride-Blended Polystyrene Nanofibrous Sorbents and Their Application in the Removal of Various Oil Spills
title_sort polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride blended polystyrene nanofibrous sorbents and their application in the removal of various oil spills
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/4097520
work_keys_str_mv AT mohamedaalnaqbi polyethyleneandpolyvinylchlorideblendedpolystyrenenanofibroussorbentsandtheirapplicationintheremovalofvariousoilspills
AT afragalblooshi polyethyleneandpolyvinylchlorideblendedpolystyrenenanofibroussorbentsandtheirapplicationintheremovalofvariousoilspills
AT yaseregreish polyethyleneandpolyvinylchlorideblendedpolystyrenenanofibroussorbentsandtheirapplicationintheremovalofvariousoilspills