Carbonisation of a polymer made from sulfur and canola oil
- Journal:
- Chemical Communications
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1039/d1cc01555a
- Affiliations:
- 4
- Authors:
- 12
Research Highlight
Sulfur-rich substance cleans up oil and mercury spills
© dinn/E+/Getty Images
Water contaminated with mercury, a toxic heavy metal, could be cleaned up using a simple material made from sulfur and canola oil.
Due to the strong bonds that form between sulfur and mercury, sulfur-rich materials are attracting interest for the environmental remediation of sites contaminated with mercury.
Now, a team that included Deakin University researchers has shown that a polymer made by heating sulfur and canola oil — a reaction that can be performed industrially on a multi-tonne scale — could form the basis of a mercury-absorbing material.
The polymer itself showed a modest mercury capture, but carbonizing it at 600 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes produced a material with significantly higher mercury adsorption. Mercury uptake was higher still when the polymer was used to mop up an oil spill and then carbonized, suggesting that it could have a dual use in environmental clean-ups.
References
- Chemical Communications 57, 6296 (2021). doi: 10.1039/d1cc01555a
Institutions | Authors | Share |
---|---|---|
Flinders University, Australia | 0.67 | |
Deakin University, Australia | 0.17 | |
Flinders Microscopy and Microanalysis, Australia | 0.08 | |
University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK) | 0.08 |