SusChEM: Environmentally Friendly Microfiber Polycarbonate Meshes for Continuous Oil Retrieval

非技术性概述：溢油后最常用的清理技术是原地燃烧、机械方法（围油栏、撇油和真空）以及化学分散剂和/或吸附剂材料。每种技术都有其优缺点，决定了它们在各种溢油情况下的使用。最成功、最具成本效益和最通用的方法之一是使用多孔吸附剂材料从水体表面去除油（即，吸油海绵）。然而，这些合成吸附剂材料的油选择性、可重复使用性、安全性和缺乏生物降解性是一个值得关注的问题。 该项目的目标是制备和探索一种环境友好、可生物降解的吸油海绵，用于在石油泄漏后提高石油回收率。将合成不同的聚合物基材料，并根据其机械和吸油性能及其生物降解性对其进行表征。 除了解决这一需要，以改善环境友好的方法来清理石油泄漏，这些研究活动将培养研究生谁将受益于跨学科的教育经验。 这些活动将通过增加有关聚合物的基础科学知识，教育材料科学和工程方面的劳动力，并可能导致改进聚合物技术以应对当今挑战，从而为积极的社会成果做出贡献。该提案的主要目标是开发一种基于新的、可生物降解的、安全的和高度可调的聚乙烯的环境友好的连续采油系统。（甘油碳酸酯）网，同时教育和培训本科生和研究生在一个高度跨学科的研究环境。 具体而言，提出了一种组合的机械（撇油/真空）和合成的生物可降解吸附剂材料系统，以在漏油后回收油，该系统解决了当前系统的回收、可重复使用性、安全性和缺乏生物可降解性。 在目标1中，脂肪酸衍生的聚（1，3-甘油碳酸酯）和聚（1，2-甘油碳酸酯）的库将分别通过相应的碳酸酯或环氧化物与CO2的开环聚合以高产率合成，分子量超过50，000 g/mol，随后表征。 在目标2中，将制备聚（甘油碳酸酯）的静电纺丝聚合物网，并测定吸油性、降解性和机械性能。 在目标3中，将在连续真空辅助系统中确定使用生物可降解机械耐用聚合物网片的石油提取/回收效率，并与当前的金标准吸附剂（非织造聚丙烯网片）进行比较。 这些目标的实现将提供：1）功能化聚乙烯的新合成方法（1，3-甘油碳酸酯）和聚（1，2-甘油碳酸酯）s; 2）聚合物结构对降解速率控制的相关性; 3）对高度多孔聚乙烯中油和水润湿性的理解（甘油碳酸酯）纤维网;和4）用于开发用于在石油泄漏后提高石油采收率的新聚合物材料的设计标准。

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:The most commonly used clean-up techniques after an oil spill are in-situ burning, mechanical methods (booms, skimming, and vacuums), and chemical dispersants and/or sorbent materials. Each technique possesses advantages and disadvantages that dictate their use in various oil-spill scenarios. One of the most successful, cost-effective, and versatile methods is the use of porous sorbent materials to remove oil from the surface of a body of water (i.e., an oil absorbing sponge). However, the oil selectivity, reusability, safety, and lack of biodegradability of these synthetic sorbent materials are of significant concern. The goal of this project is to prepare and explore an environmentally friendly, biodegradable oil absorbing sponge for enhanced oil recovery after an oil spill. Different polymer-based materials will be synthesized and characterized in terms of their mechanical and oil-absorbing properties and their biodegradability. In addition to addressing this need for improved environmentally friendly methods to clean up an oil spill, these research activities will train graduate students who will benefit from an interdisciplinary educational experience. These activities will contribute to positive societal outcomes by increasing fundamental scientific knowledge on polymers, educating the workforce in materials science and engineering, and potentially leading to improved polymer-based technologies for today's challenges.TECHNICAL SUMMARY:The primary goals of this proposal are to develop an environmentally friendly continuous oil recovery system based on new, biodegradable, safe, and highly tunable poly(glycerol carbonate) meshes, and at the same time educate and train undergraduate and graduate students in a highly interdisciplinary research environment. Specifically, a combined mechanical (skimming/vacuum) and synthetic biodegradable sorbent material system is proposed to retrieve oil after an oil spill that addresses the recovery, reusability, safety, and lack of biodegradability of the current systems. In Objective 1, a library of fatty acid derivatized poly(1,3-glycerol carbonate)s and poly(1,2-glycerol carbonate)s will be synthesized in high yield with molecular weight above 50,000 g/mol via ring-opening polymerization of the corresponding carbonate or epoxide with CO2, respectively, and subsequently characterized. In Objective 2, electrospun polymeric meshes of the poly(glycerol carbonate)s will be fabricated and the oil absorbent, degradation, and mechanical properties will be determined. In Objective 3, the efficiency of oil extraction/recovery using the biodegradable mechanically robust polymeric meshes will be determined in a continuous, vacuum-assisted system and compared to the current gold-standard sorbent (a nonwoven polypropylene mesh). Completion of these objectives will provide: 1) novel synthetic approaches to functionalized poly(1,3-glycerol carbonate)s and poly(1,2-glycerol carbonate)s; 2) correlation of polymer structure on the control of degradation rates; 3) an understanding of the oil and water wettability in highly porous poly(glycerol carbonate) fiber meshes; and 4) design criteria for developing new polymeric materials for enhanced oil recovery after an oil spill.