Superhydrophobic and oleophilic calcium carbonate powder as a selective oil sorbent with potential use in oil spill clean-ups

Catastrophic oil spills such as that in Gulf of Mexico remind us of the necessity of prompt action to develop an environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and large-scale technology to minimize environmental consequences caused by such disasters. The feasibility of using superhydrophobic and oleophilic mineral powders to selectively absorb oil from water is thus of great interest. In this communication we report the preparation, characterization and laboratory testing of superhydrophobic calcium carbonate powder treated with fatty acid as selective oil sorbent to separate oil from an oil-water mixture.