Performance of Kapok Fibres and Kapok Ash Wood as Oil Absorption Materials

• Published in: Green Infrastructure: Materials and Sustainable Management
• Main Author: Ahmad A.H.F.; Hassan R.; Noh N.M.; Abd Malek N.J.; Alisibramulsi A.; Ab Wahab E.S.
• Format: Book chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2024
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85205614761&doi=10.1007%2f978-981-99-7003-2_22&partnerID=40&md5=440a30a39acb571b84e98ac4e7c7c894

Degradation of waste cooking oil in pipes may cause corrosion of metal and concrete elements. Research detected that the capacity of sorbent material to clean-up cooking oil from produced water towards different factors is associated with surface characteristics, oil type, oil film thickness, sorption time, and the tempera-ture. Kapok (Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn) fibre is a plant biomass used as sorbent material. The kapok fibre has a hollow structure with a large lumen that leads to its excellent oil absorbency and retention capacity. Due to its biodegradability, Kapok fibre can be ultimately disposed of for biomass energy recovery, thus leaving no secondary waste to pollute the environment. This study examined the absorption capacity of kapok fibre and kapok wood ash as well as a combination of both these materials into waste cooking oil. Economically, kapok is relatively cheap compared to polypropylene. The result shows that 10 g of kapok fibre, kapok ash wood, and a combination of both materials give a maximum absorption capacity of 25.70 g/g, 0.47 g/g, and 7.83 g/g respectively compared to the 20 and 30 g weight that gives lower value than 10 g weight of the material. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.