EAGER: Novel Materials and Processes for Oil Spill Remediation

目前从水中捕获石油的方法已被证明不适用于墨西哥湾的漏油清理工作。迫切需要开发新的高效材料和方法来从水面上捕获原油。理想的材料应该同时具有疏水性和亲油性，对环境友好，具有高吸油能力，并且易于从水面部署和收集。没有一种电流吸收剂能满足所有这些要求。探讨了基于连续纳米纤维技术的吸油材料的可行性。在效率、成本以及环境和健康方面，连续纳米纤维可能比传统的吸收剂和非连续纳米材料具有关键的优势。该项目的目标是对使用这些材料的高效石油收集进行概念验证演示。将筛选几种候选材料，并探索和论证大量选择的纳米纤维的纳米制造的可行性。它们的吸油性能将得到验证和量化。最后，对纳米纤维在水面上的应用和收集进行了研究和论证。该项目建立在最近资助的核磁共振快速仪器项目的基础上。这些结果将为未来的深入研究提供必要的概念验证，这些研究将导致具有革命性性能的新型超亲油/超疏水纳米薄膜材料。因此，这项研究可以对当前和未来的漏油事件产生重大影响，特别是对初步清理后艰难的长期清理工作，并可以带来可观的经济效益。与其他纳米材料相比，连续纳米纤维在成本和制造简便性、对其几何形状、性质和分层组装/结构的集成控制以及消除与健康相关的问题方面具有关键优势。目前，学术、联邦和工业研究人员正在开发大量纳米纤维应用，其中包括内布拉斯加州的研究人员。在这项研究过程中开发的新方法和材料将对这些发展做出关键贡献，并将确保美国在纳米纤维研究方面继续处于领先地位。一名博士后和几名研究生和本科生，包括少数族裔(资金来源不同)将接受高质量的跨学科研究培训，并将提供竞争性就业机会。还描述了指导有抱负的博士后助理的计划。

1140065DzenisCurrent methods of oil capture from water have proven inadequate in the Gulf of Mexico spill cleanup. There is a pressing need for the development of novel efficient materials and methods for capturing crude oil from water surface. An ideal material would be simultaneously hydrophobic and oleophilic, environmentally friendly, have high oil absorption capacity, and be easily deployable and collectable from water surface. No current absorbent satisfies all these requirements. It is proposed here to explore the feasibility of oil absorbing materials based on continuous nanofiber technology. Continuous nanofibers may have critical advantages to conventional absorbents and discontinuous nanomaterials in terms of efficiency, cost, and environmental and health concerns. The goal of this project is a proof-of-concept demonstration of the efficient oil collection using these materials. Several candidate materials will be screened and feasibility of nanomanufacturing of quantities of selected nanofibers will be explored and demonstrated. Their oil absorption performance will be verified and quantified. Finally, application and collection of the nanofibers from the water surface will be studied and demonstrated. This project builds on the recently funded MRI RAPID instrumentation project. The results will provide the necessary proof-of-concept for the future in-depth studies that can lead to novel superoleophilic/superhydrophobic nanofilamentary materials with revolutionary properties. As a result, this research can have significant impact on the current and future spills, particularly on the difficult long-term clean-up efforts after the initial clean-up, and can bring substantial economic benefits. Continuous nanofibers have critical advantages to other nanomaterials in terms of cost and ease of their nanomanufacturing, possibility of integrated control of their geometry, properties, and hierarchical assemblies/architectures, and elimination of health related concerns. A large number of nanofiber applications is being currently developed by academic, Federal, and industrial researchers including researchers in Nebraska. The new methods and materials developed in the course of this research will critically contribute to these developments and will assure continuing US leadership in the nanofiber research. One post-doc and several graduate and undergraduate students including minorities (funded from different sources) will receive high quality interdisciplinary research training and will be available for competitive employment. Plans for mentoring of an aspiring post-doctoral associate are also described