Oil absorption capacity of bare and PDMS-coated PET non-woven fabric; dependency of fiber strand thickness and oil viscosity

Water and oil absorption behaviors of the bare and PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane)-coated PET (polyethylene terephthalate) fabrics with two different fiber strand thicknesses were investigated. PET fabrics were superhydrophobically modified by PDMS-coating via a thermal vapor deposition process. The modification greatly enhanced the selectivity of PET fabric to oil absorption from oil/water mixture, making the PDMS-coated fabric a promising candidate as an absorbent of oil spills. We have also studied oil sorption behaviors of PDMS-coated PET fabric as a function of fiber strand thicknesses and oil viscosities. In general, fabric with a thinner fiber strand thickness showed a higher maximum oil absorption capacity, whereas uptake of the oil in thicker-fiber-absorbent was faster. Based on our results, we suggest that different absorbent structures with various fiber strand thicknesses can be chosen to maximize the efficiency of oil removal, depending on oil viscosity and available oil absorption time.