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Need of an excellent oil-absorbent is indispensable for todays' world for oil spill cleanup as it
has become a prominent environmental pollution pathway. This research highlights the use of
a novel semi-inter Penetrating Polymer Network (IPN) polymeric materials based on natural
rubber (NR)/ scrap rubber (SR) with 4-tert-butylstyrene (tBS) / isodecyl acrylate (IDA) as a
sorbent for an oil spill cleanup. In this research divinylbenzene (DVB) was used as a crosslinking agent and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) was used as an initiator. A series of IPN systems was
synthesized and oil absorbency and oil retention capacity in toluene and four different oils
(diesel, petrol, automobile discard oil and coconut oil) were determined. Highest Oil
absorbency values for synthesized semi IPN systems are shown in Table 1. Oil absorbency decreased with increasing DVB concentration and increased with the amount of
NR. Oil absorbency increased with increasing soaking time while the rate of oil sorption
decreased. NR is efficient in absorbing light to moderately viscous oils and less effective in
absorbing highly viscous oils.
Selection of NR/SR as the core polymer of the absorbent is a worthwhile endeavour as it is
highly abundant in South Asia, sustainable and also economically profitable compared to the
synthetic petroleum based polymers.
