Oil Sorbent Based on Luffa Fiber-Graft-Poly(Butyl Acrylate) Copolymer

Luffa cylindrica is primarily used as a vegetable, but its dry fiber can be also used as a sponge. L. cylindrica has a ligneous fibrous netting system, in which the fibrous cords are disposed in a multidirectional array, forming a natural mat. In this work, we aim to synthesize a potential material for oil spill cleanup by the graft polymerization of butyl acrylate (BA) onto Luffa fiber (LF) using 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator. The grafting process has been controlled by monomer and AIBN concentrations, reaction time and temperature, in which the optimal condition for the highest graft yield of 40.60% is [AIBN] = 0.035 mol/L, [BA] = 1.50 mol/L, 180 min at 75 °C. The graft copolymer LF- g -BA is structurally characterized by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. In the presence of crosslinking agent divinyl benzene, the oil sorption capacity of the synthetic LF- g -BA reaches 20.60 g oil/g sorbent for 48-h treatment. The LF- g -BA material can be seen as a potential sorbent due to its swelling property in non/weak polar mediums and reusable feature.