Up-cycling of medical waste: A scalable and facile approach to fabricate hierarchical porous structured coalescer for separating oil spills from water

Oil and gas production activities elevate the risk of marine oil spills, exacerbated by oceanic dynamics that disperse and emulsify spilled oil. Coalescence emerges as a preferred oil/water separation method for its eco-friendly process. Coalescing media, crucial for effective oil removal, are composed of diverse materials. The healthcare sector generates substantial disposable fiber-based plastic waste, posing environmental threats upon disposal. This study presents a novel approach: creating a hierarchical porous structure on medical waste substrates using a cost-effective method. This structure, featuring macropores from pristine fibers maintaining high permeation rates and micropores from PVDF coating enhancing oil removal capabilities, offers an efficient coalescing medium. The design's simplicity hints at industrial scalability. Testing the modified waste materials as coalescing media yielded an 85 % oil removal efficiency across varied oil types and water salinities. This study aligns with a circular economy paradigm, transforming waste into valuable resources.