Aerogel may offer greener cleaning for oil and chemical spills

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison say they've developed an aerogel that could improve oil spill and chemical cleanups. Aerogels, highly porous materials, are already in use in a number of applications such as insulation and aerospace materials. In her university lab, Shaoqin "Sarah" Gong and colleagues have created an aerogel made of cellulose nanofibrils -- sustainable wood-based materials -- and an environmentally friendly polymer using a freeze-drying process that doesn't require the use organic solvents. The material has proven highly absorbent, Gong said. "For this material, one unique property is that it has superior absorbing ability for organic solvents -- up to nearly 100 times its own weight," she said in a university release. "It also has strong absorbing ability for metal ions" for cleanup of metal contaminants, she said. The aerogel has both water-repelling and oil-absorbing properties, she said. "So if you had an oil spill, for example, the idea is you could throw this aerogel sheet in the water and it would start to absorb the oil very quickly and efficiently," Gong said. "Once it's fully saturated, you can take it out and squeeze out all the oil. Although its absorbing capacity reduces after each use, it can be reused for a couple of cycles." "We are living in a time where pollution is a serious problem -- especially for human health and for animals in the ocean," she said. "We are passionate to develop technology to make a positive societal impact."