Green Material From Natural Rubber-Coated Fabric As A Sustainable Solution In Removing Oil From Water

Oil removal from water has become more important for environment sustainability since there are many cases of oil leakage accidents. Oil spills, whether caused by accidents or other factors, can have devastating effects on aquatic ecosystems and wildlife. To clean up by utilizing green materials, it can mitigate the environmental impact of oil spills and align with the principles of conservation science. Therefore, in this work, an attempt was made to clean oil contamination using rubber foam attached with cotton fabric. The enhancement of hydrophobicity would increase the efficiency of oil removal. The cotton fabric was coated by natural rubber (NR) foam and subsequently treated with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS) as hydrophobic agent. The results show the treated NR-coated fabric exhibited excellent oil absorption, oil selectivity and completely removed the oily layer from water. It is because hydrophobic enhancement of cotton fabric and rubber foam surfaces were achieved at 157° and 140°, respectively. The formation of hydrophobic agent with rough surface was revealed by SEM micrographs. From the results, the prepared NR-coated fabric presented an attractive hydrophobic property with simple preparation and high efficiency of oil removal. It could be said that NR-coated fabric is a green material potentially used as a perfect oil-separator to relieve the pollution from oil contamination. Conservationists and researchers can work together to raise awareness about the benefits of using green materials for oil spill cleanup, fostering a sense of environmental stewardship.