Skip to main content
Journal of Engineering and Applied Science
Download PDF

Improvised centrifugal spinning for the production of polystyrene microfibers from waste expanded polystyrene foam and its potential application for oil adsorption

Journal of Engineering and Applied Science volume 68, Article number: 25 (2021) Cite this article

Abstract

A straightforward approach to recycle waste expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam to produce polystyrene (PS) microfibers using the improvised centrifugal spinning technique is demonstrated in this work. A typical benchtop centrifuge was improvised and used as a centrifugal spinning device. The obtained PS microfibers were characterized for their potential application for oil adsorption. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results revealed similarity on the transmission bands of EPS foam and PS microfibers suggesting the preservation of the EPS foam’s chemical composition after the centrifugal spinning process. Scanning electron microscopy displayed well-defined fibers with an average diameter of 3.14 ± 0.59 μm. At the same time, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed the presence of carbon and oxygen as the primary components of the fibers. Contact angle (θCA) measurements showed the more enhanced hydrophobicity of the PS microfiber (θCA = 100.2 ± 1.3°) compared to the untreated EPS foam (θCA = 92.9 ± 3.5°). The PS microfiber also displayed better oleophilicity compared to EPS foam. Finally, the fabricated PS microfibers demonstrated promising potential for oil removal in water with a calculated sorption capacity value of about 15.5 g/g even at a very short contact time. The fabricated PS fiber from the waste EPS foam may provide valuable insights into the valorization of polymeric waste materials for environmental and other related applications.

Introduction

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam is a ubiquitous industrial and commercial product often used for disposable cutlery, insulating, and cushioning material in packaging and construction [1]. EPS is primarily composed of aromatic hydrocarbon polymer of styrene that is being produced in millions of tons per year due to its high market demand [2]. The increasing utilization of EPS and other polystyrene (PS)-based products has become a serious environmental concern due to its non-biodegradability and limited reusability. Approximately 32.7 million tons of EPS were manufactured annually as of 2012 [3], and an estimate of 25–30% space of landfills worldwide is occupied by these used polystyrene products [4]. Reports also claimed that PS-based wastes are infesting the seas and other water bodies [2,3,4]. This poses an increasing interest in recycling EPS into value-added products such as fiber material [5, 6].

Fiber technology is a longstanding field that utilizes fiber-structured materials for various industries such as textile and clothing, medical and hygiene, and filtration. In particular, microfibers are classes of very fine fibers possessing a diameter of not more than 10 μm [7]. Due to their large surface area and extra-fine structure, microfibers possess more outstanding properties than their ordinary fiber counterparts [8]. Microfibers can be generated from natural sources such as cellulose, cotton, silk, flax, and animal wool. However, the fabrication of microfibers from natural sources requires extra steps for isolation and purification due to the presence of other biological components available in these raw materials. In this regard, microfiber fabrication using synthetic polymeric materials such as polystyrene has become a convenient option due to its purity and availability [7, 8].

Synthesizing microfibers from polystyrene has been widely demonstrated using various fabrication techniques. For instance, the production of PS fiber and microfiber scaffolds were produced through solution blow spinning, melt blowing, electrospinning, and centrifugal spinning technique [9,10,11]. Among the mentioned fabrication techniques, centrifugal spinning is considered one of the most recent and promising strategies due to its fast and high-yielding fiber production with minimal concern on the solution precursor’s electric or thermal property [12]. Moreover, this method does not require a set-up with sensitive control on pressure and temperature. Unlike electrospinning, which is the most commonly employed technique for nano/microfiber fabrication, centrifugal spinning can synthesize microfibers without using a high voltage power source [13]. Due to its simple mechanism and instrumentation, centrifugal spinning could also be modified and incorporated into other fabrication techniques such as electrospinning centrifugal spinning and melt-blown centrifugal spinning techniques to improve the quality of the fibers to be produced. In fact, a number of works have demonstrated the successful fabrication of various nano/microfibers using a centrifugal spinning technique, including porous carbon microfibers [14], antimony tin/carbon composite microfibers [15], polypropylene [16], and many more [17]. The centrifugal spinning technique has also been used to produce PS fibers for various applications [11, 18, 19]. Although the centrifugal spinning technique emerged as a promising tool in fiber fabrication, its utilization is still limited due to its unavailability, especially in small laboratories. Nonetheless, the simplicity of its mechanism and instrumentation also opens an opportunity for researchers to modify, improvise, and develop the technology regarding the available resources at hand.

This work demonstrated the fabrication of PS microfiber from waste EPS foam via a centrifugal spinning technique using an improvised centrifugal spinning set-up. A simple tabletop centrifuge was modified as the spinning apparatus. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that an ordinary centrifuge was used as a centrifugal spinning apparatus. Interestingly, this improvised method demonstrated high yield and fast production of microfibers from waste EPS foam as the primary polymeric material. The morphological and chemical profiles of the produced microfiber were also presented. The potential application of the produced PS microfiber as an oil adsorbent material in the water-oil system was also investigated. This improvised process offers new opportunities for the fast and easy production of various microfibers using a readily available and simple device. This also presents a promising step in recycling different polymeric waste products into new functional materials for various applications.

Methods/experimental

Materials collection

Waste EPS foam from laboratory equipment packaging was cleaned thoroughly by washing with running tap water and distilled water. The washed EPS were dried and cut into pieces. Tetrahydrofuran (THF, 95% Scharlau) was used as received without further purification and used as the solvent in this study. A functional benchtop centrifuge (HC-16A, Hanshin Medical Co. Ltd) was used as the improvised centrifugal spinning apparatus. A commercially available mineral multi-grade motor oil (Shell Helix HX3) was used as the test oil in the oil adsorption experiment. All aqueous mixtures required in this study were prepared using deionized water.

Preparation of PS solution and centrifugal spinning of PS microfibers

A polystyrene solution (20% w/v) was prepared by dissolving a weighed amount of EPS in 100 mL of THF. The solution was stirred and homogenized by rapid stirring for at least 12 h at room temperature. The centrifugal spinning of PS microfibers was done using an improvised ordinary centrifuge machine set-up powered by a DC motor (220 V) with a variable rotational speed. In this study, the rotational speed of the motor was fixed at 4000 rpm. Cylindrical plastic vials with holes (0.014 mm diameter) were used as a sample reservoir and were mounted on the centrifuge’s rotating pole. The holes-to-fiber collector distance was fixed at around 15 cm throughout the experiment. All the spinning operations were conducted at room temperature.

Characterization of the fabricated PS microfibers

The composition of EPS foam and PS microfibers was determined using an FTIR-ATR spectrophotometer (Perkin-Elmer Spectrum 1000). Surface morphological and elemental characterizations were examined using the SEM-EDX technique (Horiba, X-3CT). Meanwhile, contact angle (θCA) measurements were obtained via the sessile drop method using a tensiometer (Biolin Scientific, ThetaLite).

Application of PS microfibers for oil adsorption in water

The potential application of the fabricated PS microfiber as an oil adsorbent material was investigated by following the oil sorption protocol reported in previous studies [20,21,22]. In brief, the PS microfibers (approximately 0.12 g) were submerged in a water/oil (2:1 v/v) mixture with a total volume of 250 mL. For comparison, the experiment was repeated for unmodified EPS foam. The adsorption of both PS microfiber and EPS foam in water alone was also investigated. The sorption capacity was calculated using the equation,

$$ \mathrm{sorption}\ \mathrm{capacity}=\frac{M_f-{M}_i}{M_i} $$

where Mf and Mi are the mass of the adsorbent after and before the immersion, respectively. The immersion duration was varied from 5 to 30 seconds.

Results and discussion

Characterization of PS microfibers

The schematic illustration of the experimental workflow in this study is presented in Fig. 1. In a standard centrifugal spinning process, a fluid or a polymer solution is placed in a reservoir connected to a rotating motor. This reservoir has multiple holes on its sides that serve as the outlet of the fluid. Once the reservoir rotates and acquires enough speed, the surface tension of the polymer solution is unbalanced by the strong centrifugal force directed outward the reservoir. As a result, a formation of fiber jets around the rotating reservoir was observed. The produced fiber jets were collected by the fiber collectors around the rotating holder. Interestingly, this process can be executed using a typical benchtop centrifuge with minor modifications, as demonstrated in this study.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Schematic diagram of the PS microfibers fabrication and its application for oil adsorption in water

Full size image

By visual inspection, the waste EPS was clearly transformed into fibrous material after centrifugal spinning using the improvised apparatus shown in Fig. 2. It was observed that there was an irregular formation of PS film on the fiber collector when EPS solution was lesser than 20%. On the other hand, no fiber formation was observed for the spun solution at a high PS concentration (much greater than 20%). The percent yield of microfiber production using 20% (w/v) of the polymer solution was calculated to be around 91%, while the spinning process lasted for approximately 2 min for every 15 mL of polymer solution placed in the reservoir.

Fig. 2
figure 2

Actual photograph of the a EPS foam, b PS microfibers, and c PS film formed from low PS concentration

Full size image

The EPS foam and PS microfibers’ compositional properties were determined and compared as shown in Fig. 3. It can be observed that there is neither an appearance nor disappearance of any transmission bands after EPS was converted into PS microfibers. This implies that there are no changes in the chemical composition of the EPS even after it was dissolved in THF, centrifugally spun, and dried. The transmission band at 3031 cm−1 indicates the aromatic C-H stretching vibration, while the band at 2919 cm−1 indicates the vibration of the CH2 group [23]. Also, the transmission bands at 1600 cm−1, 1488 cm−1, and 1453 cm−1 were attributed to the aromatic C=C stretching vibration of the benzene ring as expected in the PS structure [24]. Strong vibrational modes at lower wavenumber, 754 cm−1, and 706 cm−1, show the out-of-plane bending vibration of C-H typical for polystyrene [25].

Fig. 3
figure 3

FTIR spectra of EPS foam and PS microfiber

Full size image

The morphology of the fabricated PS microfibers was examined using SEM, as presented in Fig. 4. Successful formation of long and intertwining microfibers was observed with an average diameter of 3.14 ± 0.59 μm and fiber length expanding up to few millimeters. Higher magnification revealed its well-defined and round fibrous structure with the absence of bead formation. This suggests the successful transformation of waste EPS foam to fine PS microfibers using the improvised spinning apparatus. However, upon closer inspection, the surface of the microfibers was found to be irregularly rough. EDX analysis revealed the presence of carbon as the most abundant elemental component of the microfibers. It is known that PS also consists of hydrogen; however, it is naturally not observable through EDX analysis. A signal of oxygen appeared in the EDX spectrum, which may be due to the residual oxygen from the THF used as the solvent in preparing the PS blend prior to the spinning process. This result generally implies that the polystyrene’s chemistry was preserved even after the spinning process was done. The microfibers’ chemical composition that is exclusively composed of carbon and oxygen based on the EDX result may suggest that the microfibers are chemically benign and could be employed for biomedical and environmental applications.

Fig. 4
figure 4

SEM image of the PS microfibers at a lower magnification and b higher magnification. The c histogram of the microfiber diameter was also shown together with the d EDX result

Full size image

Contact angle measurements

Contact angle measurement of the PS microfibers was conducted to investigate their wettability with water and oil samples (Fig. 5). For comparison, the contact angle measurement on EPS foam was also performed. The PS microfibers exhibited a water contact angle of the value of 100.2 ± 1.3°, validating its hydrophobic property. This value is comparable to the water contact angle observed in PS microfibers produced using other methods [26]. Interestingly, this value is about 7% larger than EPS foam’s water contact angle (θCA = 92.9 ± 3.5°). The round morphological feature of the microfibers may resist the water molecule penetration, thereby trapping air between the intertwining PS fibers. This further resulted in forming a stable heterogeneous solid-liquid and liquid-gas interface under the water droplet that may improve PS microfibers’ hydrophobicity compared to untreated EPS foam [27]. Meanwhile, a contact angle of 48.5 ± 1.7° was observed for the PS microfibers with mineral machine oil as the test. This is notably smaller than EPS foam’s oil contact angle value (θCA = 77.8 ± 2.3°), signifying the PS microfibers’ improved oleophilic behavior.

Fig. 5
figure 5

Contact angle images of a EPS foam and b PS microfiber with water and c EPS foam and d PS microfiber with oil

Full size image

Oil adsorption experiment

To further investigate the oil adsorption of the samples, the θCA profile was examined through time, as reflected in Fig. 6. As can be seen, there was a dramatic decrease in the θCA from 48.5° to 21.1° observed as the contact time of oil onto the PS microfiber progressed from 0.5 to 1.5 s. This decrease (up to 56%) indicates the fast adsorption of oil in the fiber matrix. The θCA value consistently decreased to 12.9° after 4.5 s. Beyond this period, the tensiometer could no longer measure the contact angle, suggesting the complete adsorption of oil on the PS microfiber sample. Meanwhile, EPS foam also demonstrated a decrease in the θCA from 64.7° to 49.2° at 0.5 to 1.5 seconds. A gradual decrease to 37.6° was observed after 4.5 s. However, the oil θCA of the EPS foam remained at around 33.2° even after 5 seconds indicating its limited oil adsorption capacity.

Fig. 6
figure 6

Wettability profile and contact angle images of oil in EPS foam and PS microfibers through time

Full size image

The application of the fabricated PS microfibers as oil absorbent material in a water-oil system was investigated, as shown in Fig. 7. The actual photograph of the PS microfibers and the water-oil set-up before and after the oil adsorption experiment is presented. The white color of the PS microfiber prior to the adsorption eventually turned yellowish after submerging in the oil/water system, indicating oil adsorption on the microfibers. The removal of oil in the water was also highly observable (Fig. 7), wherein the water became clear after the application of the microfiber as an adsorbent material.

Fig. 7
figure 7

Digital photographs of the PS microfiber and water/oil mixture before and after the adsorption experiment

Full size image

The sorption capacity of the PS microfibers in the water-oil system at different immersion times was also examined, as shown in Fig. 8. For comparison, the sorption capacity of the samples in water alone was also demonstrated. As expected, both samples exhibited a very low sorption capacity with water due to the polystyrene’s hydrophobicity. On the other hand, the fabricated PS microfibers showed higher oil sorption capacity than the untreated EPS foam. It is believed that the fibrous microstructure of the spun PS may afford high surface energy that increases the capillary action and adsorption of oil into the PS microfibers. These qualities are not observed in the EPS foam, which has a smooth surface and compact structure. It was also observed that the sorption capacity increases as the immersion time was extended up to 15 s until saturation was attained. The oil sorption capacity of the fabricated microfibers reached an equilibrium with a value of 15.5 g/g. This fast saturation might be due to the large surface area afforded by the PS microfibers. The spaces and voids formed between the intertwining microfibers might have served as sites for oil adsorption. The obtained sorption capacity of the fabricated PS microfiber as obtained in this study is comparable or even better than the sorption capacity obtained from plant-derived materials like palm fruit bunch, corn and soybean fibers, cocoa pods, and other microfiber-based oil adsorbents materials such as polypropylene and superhydrophobic carbon nanotubes as summarized in Table 1.

Fig. 8
figure 8

Bar graph of the sorption capacity of PS microfiber and untreated EPS foam in a water and b water/oil system

Full size image
Table 1 Reported sorption capacity of recycled biomass and other carbon-based sorption materials
Full size table

Conclusions

The centrifugal spinning technique was employed to recycle waste EPS foam into PS microfibers. EPS foam’s conversion to fiber material was done using an improvised tabletop centrifuge as centrifugal spinning apparatus. Morphological analysis from the SEM result revealed the formation of round and intertwined fine fibers with an average diameter of about 3.14 μm. The chemical composition was consistent even after the spinning process, as indicated in the FTIR spectra of the EPS foam and PS microfibers. Moreover, the EDX result revealed carbon as the primary elemental component of the PS microfibers. The hydrophobicity and oleophilicity of both EPS foam and PS microfibers were examined by contact angle measurements. Interestingly, PS microfibers manifested a higher water contact angle value compared to EPS foam indicating the enhanced hydrophobicity of the centrifugally spun PS microfibers. On the other hand, the PS microfibers exhibited a more oleophilic behavior than EPS foam, suggesting promising oil adsorption application potential. Finally, an oil adsorption experiment in an oil/water system revealed the outstanding performance of the fabricated PS microfibers for oil adsorption with a sorption capacity of approximately 15.5 g/g even at a very minimal immersion time. The demonstrated work offers new insight in fabricating value-added products from waste materials using readily accessible, environment-friendly, and economical processes for environmental and other related applications.

Availability of data and materials

The data used and/or analyzed during the conduct of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

EPS:

Expanded polystyrene

PS:

Polystyrene

θCA :

Contact angle

THF:

Tetrahydrofuran

FTIR-ATR:

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance

SEM-EDX:

Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy

References

  1. Bekri-Abbes I, Bayoudh S, Baklouti M (2006) Converting waste polystyrene into adsorbent: potential use in the removal of lead and cadmium ions from aqueous solution. J Polym Environ 14:249–256. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-006-0018-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Sulong NHR, Mustapa SAS, Rashid MKA (2019) Application of expanded polystyrene (EPS) in buildings and constructions: a review. J Appl Polym Sci 136(20):47529. https://doi.org/10.1002/app.47529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Farrelly TA, Shaw IC (2017) Polystyrene as hazardous household waste, household hazardous waste management. IntechOpen:45–60. https://doi.org/10.5772/65865

  4. Chandra M, Kohn C, Pawlitz J, Powell G (2016) Real cost of styrofoam, Saint Louis University MGT 6006-02: Strategy and Practice Experiential Learning Project

    Google Scholar 

  5. Lithner D, Larsson A, Dave G (2011) Environmental and health hazard ranking and assessment of plastic polymers based on chemical composition. Sci Total Environ 15:3309–3324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.04.038

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Hopewell J, Dvorak R, Kosior E (2009) Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 364(1526):2115–2126. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kale RD (2010) Microfibre: processing and applications. J Textile Assoc 70:223–239

    Google Scholar 

  8. Purane SV, Panigrahi NR (2017) Microfibres, microfilaments & their applications. AUTEX Res J 7:148–158

    Google Scholar 

  9. Deng N, He H, Yan J, Zhao Y, Ticha E, Liu Y, Kang W, Cheng B (2019) One-step melt-blowing of multi-scale micro/nano fabric membrane for advanced air-filtration. Polymer 165:174–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2019.01.035

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Deneff JI, Walton KS (2019) Production of metal-organic framework-bearing polystyrene fibers by solution blow spinning. Chem Eng Sci 203:220–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2019.01.035

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Doan HN, Nguyen DK, Vo PP, Hayashi K, Kinashi K, Sakai W, Tsutsumi N, Huynh DP (2019) Facile and scalable fabrication of porous polystyrene fibers for oil removal by centrifugal spinning, ACS Omega 4:15992–16000. doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.9b02091

  12. Lu Y, Zhang X (2014) Centrifugal spinning: an alternative approach to fabricate nanofibers at high speed and low cost. Polymer Rev 54:677–701. https://doi.org/10.1080/15583724.2014.935858

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Zou W, Chen RY, Zhang GZ, Zhang HC, Qu JP (2014) Recent Advances in Centrifugal Spinning Preparation of Nanofibers. Adv Mat Res 1015:170–176. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1015.170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Yanilmaz M, Asiri AM, Zhang X (2020) Centrifugally spun porous carbon microfibers as interlayer for Li–S batteries. J Mater Sci 55:3538–3548. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-04215-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Jia H, Dirican M, Aksu C, Sun N, Chen C, Zhu J, Zhu P, Yan C, Li Y, Ge Y, Guo J, Zhang X (2019) Carbon-enhanced centrifugally-spun SnSb/carbon microfiber composite as advanced anode material for sodium-ion battery. J Colloid Interface Sci 536:655–663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2018.10.101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Noguchi H, Kang C-W, Murakawa M (2018) Study on nanofiber spinning using centrifugal force-rotation speed of fiber-spinning disk vs nanofiber/microfiber diameter when disk speed isiIncreased via gears. Sensors Mat 30:2833–2842. https://doi.org/10.18494/SAM.2019.2034

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Atıcı B, Ünlü CH, Yanilmaz M (2021) A review on centrifugally spun fibers and their applications. Polymer Rev. https://doi.org/10.1080/15583724.2021.1901115

  18. Xiong C, Quan Z, Zhang H, Wang L, Qin X, Wang R, Yu J (2020) Hierarchically tunable structure of polystyrene-based microfiber membranes for separation and selective adsorption of oil-water. Appl Surf Sci 532:147400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.147400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Šišková AO, Peer P, Andicsová AE, Jordanov I, Rychter P (2021) Circulatory management of polymer waste: recycling into fine fibers and their applications. Materials 14:4694. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14164694

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Rotar VO, Iskrizhitskaya DV, Iskrizhitsky AA, Oreshina AA (2014) Cleanup of water surface from oil spills using natural sorbent materials. Procedia Chem 10:145–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proche.2014.10.025

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Tran DNH, Kabiri S, Sim TR, Losic D (2015) Selective adsorption of oil–water mixtures using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)–graphene sponges. Environ Sci Water Res Technol 1:298–305. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5EW00035A

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Fang J, Xuan Y, Li Q (2010) Preparation of polystyrene spheres in different particle sizes and assembly of the PS colloidal crystals. Sci China Tech Sci 53:3088–3093. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-010-4110-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Herman V, Takacs H, Duclairoir F, Renault O, Tortaic JH, Viala B (2015) Core double–shell cobalt/graphene/polystyrene magnetic nanocomposites synthesized by in situ sonochemical polymerization. RSC Adv 5:51371–51381. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5RA06847A

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Alsharaeh EH, Othman AA, Aldosari MA (2014) Microwave irradiation effect on the dispersion and thermal stability of RGO nanosheets within a polystyrene matrix. Materials 7:5212–5224. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma7075212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Tan WT, Radhi MM, Ab Rahman MZ, Kassim AB (2010) Synthesis and characterization of grafted polystyrene with acrylonitrile using gamma-irradiation. J Appl Sci 10:139–144. https://doi.org/10.3923/jas.2010.139.144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Isik T, Demir MM (2018) Tailored electrospun fibers from waste polystyrene for high oil adsorption. Sustain Mater Technol 17:e00084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2018.e00084

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Sri AK, Deeksha P, Deepika G, Nishanthini J, Hikku GS, Shilpa SA, Jeyasubramanian K, Murugesan R (2020) Super-hydrophobicity: mechanism, fabrication and its application in medical implants to prevent biomaterial associated infections. J Indus Eng Chem 92:1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiec.2020.08.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Idris J, Eyu GD, Mansor AM, Ahmad Z, Chukwuekezie CS (2014) A preliminary study of biodegradable waste as sorbent material for oil-spill cleanup. Scientific World Journal 2014:638687. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/638687

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Onwuka JC, Agbaji EB, Ajibola VO, Okibe FG (2018) Treatment of crude oil-contaminated water with chemically modified natural fiber. Appl Water Sci 8:86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-018-0727-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Husseien M, Amer AA, El-Maghraby A, Nahla TA (2008) Experimental investigation of thermal modification influence on sorption qualities of barley straw. J Appl Sci Res 4:652–657

    Google Scholar 

  31. Wong C, McGowan T, Bajwa SG, Bajwa DS (2016) Impact of fiber treatment on the oil absorption characteristics of plant fibers. BioResources 11:6452–6463. https://doi.org/10.15376/biores.11.3.6452-6463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Ukotije-Ikwut PR, Idogun AK, Iriakuma CT, Aseminaso A, Obomanu T (2016) A novel method for adsorption using human hair as a natural oil spill sorbent. Int J Sci Eng Res 7:1754–1765

    Google Scholar 

  33. Wei QF, Mather RR, Fotheringham AF, Yang RD (2003) Evaluation of nonwoven polypropylene oil sorbents in marine oil-spill recovery. Mar Pollut Bull 46:780–783. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0025-326X(03)00042-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Ferrero G, Bock MS, Stenby EH, Hou C, Zhang J (2019) Reduced graphene oxide-coated microfibers for oil–water separation. Environ Sci Nano 6:3215–3224. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9EN00549H

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Li Z, Wang B, Qin X, Wang Y, Liu C, Shao Q, Wang N, Zhang J, Wang Z, Shen C, Guo Z (2018) Superhydrophobic/superoleophilic polycarbonate/carbon nanotubes porous monolith for selective oil adsorption from water. ACS Sustainable Chem Eng 6:13747–13755. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b01637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Parangusan H, Ponnamma D, Hassan MK, Adham S, Al-Maadeed MAA (2019) Designing carbon nanotube-based oil absorbing membranes from gamma irradiated and electrospun polystyrene nanocomposites. Materials 12:709. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12050709

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Commission on Higher Education- Philippines and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)- Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development for the equipment used in this research. One of the authors (MLMB) also acknowledges the scholarship from DOST- Accelerated Science and Technology Human Resource Development Program.

Funding

No funding agency was declared for this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, School of Science and Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University, 1101, Quezon City, Philippines

    Marco Laurence M. Budlayan

  2. Synthetic Organic Chemistry Laboratory, Institute of Chemistry, University of the Philippines Diliman, 1101, Quezon City, Philippines

    Jonathan N. Patricio & Susan D. Arco

  3. Natural Sciences Research Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman, 1101, Quezon City, Philippines

    Jonathan N. Patricio & Susan D. Arco

  4. Materials Science and Polymer Chemistry Laboratory, Caraga State University, 8600, Butuan City, Philippines

    Jeanne Phyre Lagare-Oracion

  5. Department of Physics, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, 9200, Iligan City, Philippines

    Arnold C. Alguno

  6. Department of Chemistry, Ateneo de Davao University, 8000, Davao City, Philippines

    Antonio Basilio

  7. Department of Chemistry, Caraga State University, 8600, Butuan City, Philippines

    Felmer S. Latayada

  8. Department of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, College of Science and Environment, Mindanao State University – Naawan, Naawan, 9023, Misamis Oriental, Philippines

    Rey Y. Capangpangan

Authors
  1. Marco Laurence M. Budlayan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jonathan N. Patricio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jeanne Phyre Lagare-Oracion
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Susan D. Arco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Arnold C. Alguno
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Antonio Basilio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Felmer S. Latayada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Rey Y. Capangpangan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All the authors have read and approved the manuscript. MLMB conducted the fabrication of microfibers and oil adsorption experiments and wrote the manuscript. JNP conducted the contact angle measurements and analysis and helped revised the manuscript. JPLO assisted in the fabrication and characterization of PS microfibers. SDA provided the equipment and validated the contact angle analysis. ACA collated the characterization data and edited the manuscript. AB conducted the SEM-EDX characterization; FSL and RYC supervised the laboratory work, checked the manuscript, and examined the characterization results.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rey Y. Capangpangan.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable

Consent for publication

The authors hereby declare that they participated in the study and in the development of the manuscript. The authors further declare that they have read the final version and give their consent for the article to be published in this journal.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Budlayan, M.L.M., Patricio, J.N., Lagare-Oracion, J.P. et al. Improvised centrifugal spinning for the production of polystyrene microfibers from waste expanded polystyrene foam and its potential application for oil adsorption. J. Eng. Appl. Sci. 68, 25 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s44147-021-00030-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s44147-021-00030-y

Keywords