Bio-polymeric based sponges for oily waste recovery

Over the last years, many efforts were dedicated to the developmentof sustainable sorbent materials. The interest concerns a wide rangeof applications. Oily products and utilization are increasing all over theworld as far as the possibility of spill oily accidents. In this direction, productionof sponges showing lipophilic properties allows for the proper disposalof oily waste and does not cause secondary pollution. In this work,it is proposed an eco-friendly technology to prepare a polycaprolactone(PCL) biodegradable sponge for the selective absorption of oil from water.PCL biopolymer matrix was melt mixed with water-soluble porogenagents and then leached in water to obtain a porous 3D structure. The intrinsiclipophilic nature of PCL made the porous device able to selectivelyabsorb oily pollutants showing, moreover, with high efficiency and highreusability potential. Devices are characterized from morphological andmechanical point of view. Oily waste uptake was evaluated by considering3 different oily waste (olive oil, motor oil, gasoline) and considering50 recycles.