Cotton Could Serve as Cleanup Medium for Oil Spill: Researchers
(萌妹社区Org.com) -- The same Texas Tech-created nonwoven cotton technology that keeps soldiers safe from chemical and biological warfare agents may also serve as the perfect sponge for sopping up oil that has polluted the Gulf of Mexico.
As oil continues to gush from the exploded Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a Texas Tech expert in nonwoven cotton technology says the 鈥渇abric of our lives鈥� may do a better job to absorb the oil spill than the booms made of synthetic material.
鈥淎lready, several million feet of the oil-containment booms have been used to capture the oil spilling into the Gulf,鈥� said Seshadri Ramkumar, associate professor of Nonwoven materials at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH). 鈥淭hey are made of synthetic materials, don鈥檛 biodegrade and absorb only a third of what raw cotton can do. The properties of raw cotton allow it to soak up 40 times its weight. With chemical modifications, it can soak up to as much as 70 times its weight. And it won鈥檛 just stay in a landfill forever.鈥�
Ramkumar鈥檚 research focuses on developing value-added materials using nonwoven materials and nanotechnology. He supervises the Nonwoven and Advanced Materials Laboratory at TIEHH.
He is the creator of several nonwoven cotton technologies including FibertectTM, which is used in the U.S. military鈥檚 decontamination kits. He and a small group of his graduate students are researching ways to use lower-quality cottons that don鈥檛 make apparel grade for uses such as this.
鈥淭he nonwoven industry in the United States is well equipped with technologies that can develop oil-absorbent pads from natural fibers like cotton,鈥� Ramkumar said.
Provided by Texas Tech University
