The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) at Texas Tech University has found that finer raw cotton in loose form performs best for absorbing oil, according to a study in the March/April 2017 issue of the AATCC Journal of Research published by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC).
“The oil spill issue has become a global issue, as it affects human health and environment,” said Seshadri Ramkumar, lead author of the study and a professor in the institute’s Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory, where the research was conducted. “So far, most oil sorbents are synthetic-based, which also leads to problems in marine environments. Our goal is to enable a biodegradable and natural product to be an efficient and cost-effective oil sorbent.”
