Dually Prewetted Underwater Superoleophobic and under Oil Superhydrophobic Fabric for Successive Separation of Light Oil/Water/Heavy Oil Three-Phase Mixtures

Remediation of oil spills requires new technologies to separate light oil/water/heavy oil mixtures. Low-cost, biological, and environmentally friendly materials are needed to treat water pollution caused by oils. In this study, a corn straw powder (CSP)-coated fabric (CSPF) was fabricated by spraying waste CSP and polyurethane onto amphiphilic cotton fabric, and thus, the wettability of CSPF is enhanced by taking advantage of the hierarchical structure and increased surface roughness. Therefore, the CSPF could be dually prewetted (DCSPF) with both water and oil, and it showed underwater superoleophobic and under oil superhydrophobic properties without any further chemical modification. When applied to light oil/water/heavy oil separation, the DCSPF could be used to successively separate light oil/water/heavy oil three-phase mixtures under gravity with a high separation efficiency and flux. In addition, the DCSPF showed excellent structural and chemical stability according to repeated cycling and corrosive solution/oil separation experiments. The results of this study are of value in providing a simple, low-cost, and environment-friendly approach for application in the field of successive separation of light oil/water/heavy oil three-phase mixtures.