tIn this work we report the use of separator pads made of polystyrene nanofibers filled with sawdust forthe separation of oil spills. The polystyrene nanofiber membrane was first synthetized using two electro-spinning and impregnation methods, and then the synthetized pads were filled with different types ofsawdust including willows, poplars and chipboards. The proposed pads were utilized for the separationof oil spills from aqueous solutions. Pre-experiments showed that the poplar sawdust with particle sizein the range 40–60 mesh had the highest sorption capacity for the separation of different oil spills. Theadsorption capacity of the pads synthetized by the both electrospinning and impregnation methods forthe separation of the all types of oil spills decreased with increasing reaction temperature. Moreover, theirsorption capacity decreased with increasing pH up to natural pH, and then slightly increased by increasingthe solution pH. The results showed that under optimum conditions (reaction temperature = 25◦C, pH = 4,and contact time = 1 min), the adsorption capacities of the proposed pads by impregnation method for theseparation of motor oil, diesel oil, furnace oil, and crude oil were 1, 0.63, 0.97 and 0.59 g/g, respectively.Moreover, the adsorption capacities of the pads prepared by electrospinning method for the mentionedoils were 1.41, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.1 g/g, respectively. The synthesized pads made of polystyrene nanofibersand sawdust offered a high efficiency for the removal of different types of oil spills, and therefore theycan be used as cheap, available, reusable, eco-friendly and efficient technology for the separation of oilpollution in water aqueous.
