Oil spill cleanup using stearic-acid-modified natural cotton

Natural cotton was chemically modified by stearic acid under different reaction conditions using 4-(dimethylamino) pyridine (dmap) and n,n'-dicyclohexyl carbodiimide (dcc) as a catalyst and a co-catalyst,respectively. the structure of modified cotton was confirmed using fourier transform infrared (ft-ir) measurement. the hydrophobicity of the modified cotton increased after modification,with water contact angles in the range of 141-144°. scanning electron microscope (sem) images of the cotton before and after modification were similar with fairly smooth surfaces. the modified cotton absorbed oils and organic solvent but not water due to the hydrophobicity of the cotton. the absorption capacities of the modified cotton were 23-26,21-25,20-24,and 29-32 times the cotton weight for crude oil,cooking oil,motor oil,and chloroform,respectively. the modified cotton could be reused many times without any loss of absorption capacity and could be used under different ph conditions.