Low pressure plasma functionalized cellulose fiber for the remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons polluted water

Highlights: • Low pressure plasma technique leading to super hydrophobic fluorinated cellulose. • Low input plasma power leading to high degree of surface functionalization. • Functionalized cellulose has high hydrocarbons removal efficiency from water. • Huge adsorption capacity (270 mg/g) and fast adsorption kinetics. • Easy regeneration of the exhausted fluorine grafted cellulose material. -- Abstract: This work reports the first example of effective purification, at laboratory level, of water polluted by petroleum hydrocarbons, by means of low pressure plasma fluorine grafted cellulose fiber extracted from Spanish Broom. In order to improve the affinity of the cellulosic surface towards water dispersed hydrocarbons, its original hydrophilic character was turned to super-hydrophobic, by a fluorine functionalization. Batch experiments were performed with the aim of studying kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of the adsorption process, as a function of the initial total hydrocarbon load and of the adsorbent amount. The kinetics data showed that the fiber removal efficiency ranged between 80–90% after one minute of contact time, in dependence of the initial hydrocarbon/fiber weight ratio (20–240 mg/g). A maximum adsorption capacity larger than 270 mg/g was estimated by fitting the adsorption isotherm measurements with the Langmuir model. It turned out that the functionalized fiber is capable to perform a significant hydrocarbons removal action if compared to other cellulosic materials reported in the literature. Finally, the efficiency of the plasma modified cellulose fiber, after iterative re-uses, was studied.