Novel hydrophobic macroporous polypropylene monoliths for efficient separation of hydrocarbons

Water pollution is a major, serious challenge to the ecosystem. Oil and non-polar organic spills are one of the main contributors to water pollution. Herein, for the first time, a novel magnetic monolith of polypropylene composite is synthesized for the efficient static and dynamic separation of non-polar organic spills from water. The hydrophobic porous architecture was attained by the introduction of the polystyrene to the magnetic nanoparticles along with polypropylene. The developed monoliths were thoroughly investigated by FTIR, EDX, BET, and Raman spectroscopy. Incorporation of the magnetic nanoparticles not only provides stability to the porous monolith but it also significantly improved the surface area from 33 m²/g to 221 m²/g. The contact angle of the polystyrene interacted polypropylene (PS/PP) and the magnetic polypropylene monolith (PS/Fe/PP) were found to be 131.04° and 146.54°, respectively. The improved hydrophobicity of the magnetic polypropylene monolith was probably due to the enhancement of the roughness factor on the surface. Due to the micro/macroporous architecture, the dynamic separation and spot absorption of the non-polar contaminants and oil spills from the water were achieved successfully with great efficiency. The developed hydrophobic polypropylene is shown to be an excellent material for the separation of large and small oil spills from water.