Bamboo charcoal fused with polyurethane foam for efficiently removing organic solvents from wastewater: experimental and simulation

Abstract The development of a multifunctional oil adsorbing material which could effectively and quickly separate oily wastewater is one the focuses in water environment restoration. In this study, bamboo charcoal (BC) was used as an improver to modify polyurethane (PU) foam. results scanning electron microscope (SEM) Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed that addition BC improve mechanical properties PU. adsorption data exhibited BC-loaded PU (BC/PU) foam composites removed seven organic solvents (OSs, including octane, petroleum ether, soybean oil, chlorobenzene, 1,2-dichloroethane, n-hexane, cyclohexane), maximum capacity BC/PU 23.6 g −1 when content 5%. order pseudo-second-order kinetic constants OSs octane < ether chlorobenzene 1, 2-dichloroethane cyclohexane n -hexane. Based on experimental density functional theory (DFT) simulation, mechanism BC/PU-5 discussed. E HOMO μ calculated by DFT were highly correlated with absorption affinity (K 2 , Q e max ). Hence, contribution efficiency may be mainly due donor–acceptor (EDA) interaction non-hydrophobic interaction. addition, did not change significantly after repeated recycling 5 times. Overall, prepared potential candidate for separating engineering applications. Graphical