Study of oil sorption behavior of filled and structured fiber assemblies made from polypropylene, kapok and milkweed fibers

▶ In this study, we compare the oil (high density oil and diesel oil) sorption behaviour of filled and structured fiber assemblies made from single natural (kapok and milkweed) and synthetic fibers (polypropylene) as well as blends of natural and synthetic fibers. ▶ We analyze the results in terms of porosity and hydraulic pore diameters of the fiber assemblies and concluded that higher is the porosity higher is the oil sorption capacity. ▶ The natural fiber assemblies are found to have good sorption capacity, but this is lower as compared to that of polypropylene, especially when the porosity is less than 0.98. ▶ The natural fibres have low cellulose content which offers them slow biodegradability and they might be found as interesting sorbents for marine and freshwater applications.