An Active Absorbent for Cleanup of High-Concentration Strong Acid and Base Solutions
Nara Han,
Sol Park,
Byung Kwon Kaang,
Wooree Jang,
Hye Young Koo,
Won San Choi
Affiliations
Nara Han
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Hanbat National University, 125 Dongseodaero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-719, Korea
Sol Park
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Hanbat National University, 125 Dongseodaero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-719, Korea
Byung Kwon Kaang
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Hanbat National University, 125 Dongseodaero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-719, Korea
Wooree Jang
Functional Composite Materials Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Jeonbuk Institute of Advanced Composite Materials, 92 Chudong-ro, Bongdong-eup, Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do 55324, Korea
Hye Young Koo
Functional Composite Materials Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Jeonbuk Institute of Advanced Composite Materials, 92 Chudong-ro, Bongdong-eup, Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do 55324, Korea
Won San Choi
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Hanbat National University, 125 Dongseodaero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-719, Korea
There is significant interest in developing novel absorbents for hazardous material cleanup. Iron oxide-coated melamine formaldehyde sponge (MFS/IO) absorbents with various IO layer thicknesses were synthesized. Various other absorbents were also synthesized and compared to evaluate the absorption capability of the MFS/IO absorbents for strong acid (15%, v/v) and base (50%, m/m) solutions. Specifically, absorbent and solution drop tests, dust tests, and droplet fragment tests were performed. Among the various absorbents, MFS/IO absorbents possessing a needlelike surface morphology showed several unique characteristics not observed in other absorbents. The MFS/IO absorbents naturally absorbed a strong base solution (absorption time: 0.71−0.5 s, absorption capacity: 10,000−34,000%) without an additional external force and immediately absorbed a strong acid solution (0.31−0.43 s, 9830−10,810%) without absorption delay/overflow during absorbent and solution drop tests, respectively. The MFS/IO absorbents were also demonstrated to be ideal absorbents that generated fewer dust particles (semiclass 1 (ISO 3) level of 280 piece/L) than the level of a clean room (class 100). Furthermore, the MFS/IO absorbents were able to prevent the formation of droplet fragments and solution overflow during the solution drop test due to their unique surface morphology and extremely high absorption speed/capacity, respectively.