Abstract

To compare the potential utilization of various collagen fibre wastes from the leather industry, such as raw hide waste, oil-tanned and chrome-tanned wastes, as oil sorbents, a hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) modified collagen fibre was prepared using raw hide waste and an epoxy-terminated silicone oligomer. We fabricated samples by a lyophilization technique utilizing the corresponding hide powder fibre (HPF). The oil sorption capacity, sorption saturation time, and retention capacity of prepared sorbents were studied. The results showed that oil sorption capacity of PDMS-modified HPF for silicone oil and vegetable (rape) oil were 6.98 and 5.58g/g, respectively. This sample exhibited the highest oil sorption capacity. The results suggest that with appropriate pore size, high porosity and low apparent surface energy, collagen fibre based sorbent would demonstrate favourable oil sorption characteristics and is very promising for oil cleanup application.