I-Corps: Biodegradable 3D-Printed Oil Absorbents

I-Corps：可生物降解的 3D 打印吸油剂

• 批准号: 1740388
• 负责人: Victor Ugaz
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-04-01 至 2017-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1740388&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Biodegradable; 3D; Printed; Oil

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project lies in the core technology's ability to establish a new paradigm for oil spill cleanup that employs on-demand manufacturing of absorbent structures customized to match the specific properties of the oil to be collected. Oil spills are typically expensive to remediate due to the equipment, time, and manpower required. Consequently, most remediation approaches are focused on large-scale spill events. However, these account for only approximately 5% of the total pollution in waterways. Small-scale spills occur much more frequently but are often ignored because existing cleanup technologies are inefficient to deploy. The 3D printed oil absorbent technology to be explored in this project uniquely address this need by delivering customized absorbent capacity and the ability to be produced on-demand to maximize recovery for a broad range incidents via customization toward the unique combination of oil properties, quantity, and environmental and weather conditions at each spill site.This I-Corps project seeks to explore the commercial potential of a family of 3D printable oleophilic materials capable of absorbing and retaining oil within specially designed internal pore networks. These absorbent materials also leverage shape memory behavior, making it possible for the absorbed oil to be extracted and recovered by heating the material to a prescribed temperature at which it automatically contracts to squeeze out the collected oil. In this way, the absorbent materials can be made to function like a self-wringing sponge. These materials are produced using poly(lactic acid), an inexpensive commodity biopolymer that is degradable and environmentally friendly. This technology emerged from fundamental research performed in a prior NSF-sponsored project, where optimal pore network designs and processing conditions were identified to maximize recovery of different petroleum samples dispersed in water. 3D printing enables on-demand production of designer absorbent architectures that match properties of different petroleum fractions, maximize selectivity against water, and permit either strong encapsulation or easy recovery of the collected oil.

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于核心技术能够建立一个新的漏油清理模式，该模式采用按需制造的吸收结构，以匹配所收集的石油的具体性质。由于所需的设备、时间和人力，漏油的补救通常是昂贵的。因此，大多数补救办法都侧重于大规模的溢油事件。 然而，这些仅占水道总污染的约5%。小规模的泄漏发生得更频繁，但往往被忽视，因为现有的清理技术是低效的部署。该项目中将探索的3D打印吸油技术通过提供定制的吸油能力和按需生产的能力，通过定制石油性质、数量的独特组合，最大限度地恢复各种事件，独特地满足了这一需求。，以及每个泄漏地点的环境和天气条件。我-Corps项目旨在探索一系列3D可打印亲油材料的商业潜力，这些材料能够在专门设计的内部孔隙网络中吸收和保留油。这些吸收性材料还利用形状记忆行为，使得可以通过将材料加热到规定的温度来提取和回收吸收的油，在该温度下，材料自动收缩以挤出收集的油。以这种方式，吸收性材料可以被制成像自挤海绵一样起作用。这些材料是使用聚乳酸生产的，聚乳酸是一种廉价的商品生物聚合物，可降解且对环境友好。该技术源于之前NSF赞助的项目中进行的基础研究，其中确定了最佳孔隙网络设计和加工条件，以最大限度地回收分散在水中的不同石油样品。3D打印可以按需生产设计师的吸收结构，这些结构与不同石油馏分的特性相匹配，最大限度地提高对水的选择性，并允许强封装或容易回收收集的油。