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Rapid Room‐Temperature Gelation of Crude Oils by a Wetted Powder Gelator
Author(s) -
Ren Changliang,
Shen Jie,
Chen Feng,
Zeng Huaqiang
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201611852
Subject(s) - dissolution , wetting , phase (matter) , chemical engineering , crude oil , materials science , chemistry , nanotechnology , petroleum engineering , organic chemistry , composite material , geology , engineering
Phase‐selective organogelators (PSOGs) not only exhibit ability to phase‐selectively congeal oil from oily water but also allow easy separation of gelled oil from the body of water. However, all hitherto reported PSOGs either necessitate carrier solvents for their dissolution or suffer from an extremely slow action in gelling oil in the powder form. A previously unexplored generally applicable wetting strategy is now described to dramatically enhance, by up to two orders of magnitude, gelling speed of the resultant wet but non‐sticky gelator in the powder form in crude oils of widely ranging viscosities. Such unprecedented rapid gelling speeds enable rapid gelation of six types of (un)weathered crude oils within minutes at room temperature, making PSOGs one step closer to their eventual practical uses as one of important oil spill control technologies.