A novel naturally superoleophilic coconut oil-based foam with inherent hydrophobic properties for oil and grease sorption.

Absorption methods using polyurethane foams (PUFs) have recently gained popularity in treating oil spills. However, conventional petroleum-based PUFs lack selectivity and are commonly surface-modified using complicated processes that require toxic and harmful solvents to enhance their hydrophobicity and oil sorption capacities. In this paper, a novel naturally superoleophilic foam with inherent hydrophobic properties has been developed through the conventional one-shot foaming method with the integration of coconut oil-based polyol.

Facile Synthesis of Band Gap-Tunable Kappa-Carrageenan-Mediated C,S-Doped TiO Nanoparticles for Enhanced Dye Degradation.

Semiconducting nanoparticles (SNPs) have garnered significant attention for their role in photocatalysis technology, offering a cost-effective and highly efficient method for breaking down organic dyes. Of particular significance within SNP-based photocatalysis are tunable band gap TiO nanoparticles (NPs), which demonstrate remarkable enhancement in photocatalytic efficiency. In the present work, we introduce an approach for the synthesis of TiO NPs using kappa-carrageenan (κ-carrageenan), not just as a reducing and stabilizing agent but as a dopant for the resulting TiO NPs.

Flexible Polyurethane Foams Modified with Novel Coconut Monoglycerides-Based Polyester Polyols.

Coconut oil, a low-molecular-weight vegetable oil, is virtually unutilized as a polyol material for flexible polyurethane foam (FPUF) production due to the high-molecular-weight polyol requirement of FPUFs. The saturated chemistry of coconut oil also limits its compatibility with widely used polyol-forming processes, which mostly rely on the unsaturation of vegetable oil for functionalization. Existing studies have only exploited this resource in producing low-molecular-weight polyols for rigid foam synthesis.

Production of Bio-Based Polyol from Coconut Fatty Acid Distillate (CFAD) and Crude Glycerol for Rigid Polyurethane Foam Applications.

This study propounds a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based polyurethane (PU) foams, aiming to curtail this nonrenewable resource's continued and uncontrolled use. Coconut fatty acid distillate (CFAD) and crude glycerol (CG), both wastes generated from vegetable oil processes, were utilized for bio-based polyol production for rigid PU foam application. The raw materials were subjected to catalyzed glycerolysis with alkaline-alcohol neutralization and bleaching.