Oil Absorption by Cotton: A Systematic Study

A systematic study has been conducted at Texas Tech University to examine the potential of low micronaire cotton to be used as environmentally benign and efficient oil clean-up medium. Different forms of low micronaire and base range cottons were prepared and were evaluated for their oil absorption capabilities. A wide variety of oil, i.e., motor oil, vegetable oil and even crude oil were used in the study. Overall result show low micronaire cotton because of enhanced surface area absorbs more oil than base range cotton.