Can Waste Electrostatic Flocking Cloth Be Recycled?

Nature has given people a lot of bionic inspiration.

Bathlott, Germany, discovered that Salvinia molesta (Salvinia) has a special surface structure. Its surface is densely distributed with many "hairs". The entire leaf surface, outside the tip of hair removal, is covered with nano scale waxy crystals, showing super hydrophobicity.

Because of its special surface structure, the human Sophora japonica has good ability to maintain the underwater air layer, and is a bionic prototype for underwater drag reduction and thermal insulation.

Further studies have shown that because of its special surface structure, the leaves of P. japonica have the potential of being used as petroleum adsorbent. The hydrophobicity of its surface makes the leaves have good selective adsorption, and the existence of the hairy structure greatly increases the oil absorption ability.

However, oil adsorbed by plant leaves is hard to recover and does not have multiple oil absorption properties.

The researchers used the electrostatic flocking method to simulate the persistence of the air layer of P. japonica. The surface hair structure of flocking samples was similar to the surface structure of plant leaves.

On this basis, the application of electrostatic flocking biomimetic sample in adsorbing oil is further studied.

The annual output of electrostatic flocking cloth in China is more than 640 million meters, and its recycling is almost in a blank state. This study hopes to apply the electrostatic flocking bionic sample to the recovery of oil leakage, so as to provide a new path for the recycling and reuse of waste textiles.

Petroleum is still an important energy and chemical raw material for mankind.

During the process of oil exploitation and pportation, unexpected oil leakage accidents will cause serious damage to the environment.

Scientists and technicians have done many researches to deal with oil leaked on ocean surface.

Generally speaking, there are mainly traditional methods such as combustion and chemical dispersion. However, the efficiency of using the leaked oil is low, and it may cause two pollution to the environment. The biodegradation and solidification methods are too expensive and inefficient.

There are two main types of adsorption materials in natural adsorption and synthesis. Among them, natural materials such as sawdust, kapok and so on, although they are widely distributed and low in cost, they not only adsorb oil, but also adsorb water and have low efficiency.

In order to make the adsorbent have good selective adsorption, hydrophobic adsorbent oil can be modified.

In addition, some new adsorption technologies, such as electrospun fiber membrane and modified sponge, exhibit good selective oil absorption properties, but their application is also restricted by cost and large-scale preparation.

Different materials and sizes

Samples and flocking and fluffy products obtained from the market have good oil absorption capacity, which has better cost performance for leakage oil adsorption, suggesting a new way for recycling and recycling of electrostatic flocking fabrics and similar fabrics.

Flocking size and flocking condition:

Maximum oil absorption of different fuzz flocking samples:

Synthetic fiber adsorption materials currently occupy the main adsorbent.

The adsorption capacity of common products can reach more than 10 g/g. Taking the P-FL550DD of 3M company as an example, its standard commitment adsorption capacity can reach 2.17 L/m2, which is slightly better than the electrostatic flocking product in this research.

However, the cost of synthetic fiber adsorption materials is relatively high (505~758 yuan /kg), and the natural adsorbent materials widely adsorbed by hydrophobic materials are low cost (95 /kg), but also have low adsorption capacity (1~5 g/g), oil recovery and recycling difficulties.

The annual sales volume of flocking goods in China is large. If we can make full use of the waste materials, we need to add additional hydrophobic modification costs, but still have a good advantage. Because the flocking products are easy to absorb oil and recover, the first adsorption oil recovery rate can reach more than 70%, and at the same time, it can be recycled several times.

Bionic flocking samples have good hydrophobicity and hydrophobicity after hydrophobicity modification, which can quickly adsorb oil in oil-water mixture without adsorbing water, showing excellent selective adsorption.

The sample has a faster adsorption rate for mineral oil and vegetable oil. The maximum oil absorption is comparable to commercial adsorbent, and the adsorption efficiency is high.

The sample can float after oil absorption, and is easy to recover.

The initial recovery rate of the sample adsorbed oil is above 70% at suitable pressure. The recovered flocking sample can be recycled and the recovery rate can reach 100%.