Silicone‐based polymers as oil spill treatment agents

A new family of oil‐treatment agents was prepared by reacting polyoxyethylenic surfactants, alkyl alcohols, or carboxylic acids with alkylchlorosilanes in light hydrocarbon solvents. The treating solutions undergo rapid hydrolysis upon contact with the water surface and the reaction products can encapsulate and solidify oil slicks and other floating hydrocarbons. The removal of the resulting silicone—oil residues from the water surface can be performed by simple netting. Residues can be treated by washing with dichloromethane, leaving inert silicone polymers to be discarded and chemically unaltered hydrocarbons to be recycled. The noteworthy advantages in favor of these new oil‐treating agents are the ease of synthesis using readily available chemicals, the very low environmental toxicity of silicones, the efficiency of the agents to solidify oil at a high oil to agent ratio, and the ease of recycling of the oil—silicone residues. Silicone treating agents could find their place in the toolbox of oil spill fighters in response to small accidental and intentional spills occurring frequently in marinas, harbors, along recreational beaches, navigation canals, industrial sites, or along highways. The practical problems to be addressed before any attempt at commercialization of these compounds are the use of highly flammable light hydrocarbons as carrier solvents, the production of corrosive HCl during the hydrolysis process, and the relatively high water content of silicone—oil residues to be recycled.