Cashew nut byproduct used for superhydrophobic fabrics
Researchers from Fuzhou, China, have published findings on a method for using byproducts from the cashew nut industry to create superhydrophobic fabrics. The resulting fabrics, according to the paper published in Separation and Purification Technology, are sustainable, low cost, easy to scale and can be used with cotton and non-wovens.
The team — which included Weibin Bai, Haimen Lin, Kunhui Chen, Jie Xu, Jipeng Chen, Xinmei Zhang, Renping Zeng, Jinhuo Lin and YanlianXu — combined cardanol, a renewable byproduct from cashew nuts, with 3-aminopropyltriethoxy (KH-550) for the synthesis of cardanol-KH550 benzoxazine (CKBO).
CKBO, according to the paper’s abstract, allows grafting on the surface of cotton fabric. The superhydrophobic cotton fabric can be fabricated through immersion method and applied to prepare various superhydrophobic materials on a large scale.
The modified cotton is said to have excellent resistance to high temperature and ultraviolet irradiation, good pH stability, mechanical stability and durability. Materials displayed “high separation efficiency of various immiscible oil-water mixtures, even under harsh conditions or after 15 cycles” — and CKBO-modified cotton showed high absorption capacity towards oil on the water surface and underwater as well as oil from emulsified oil-water mixtures.
