Float Module
Project: Master’s Thesis
Date: September 2018
Skills: Design Development
The float module is engineered to withstand sea stress, including extreme weather conditions. Drawing inspiration from swimming pool floating tracks, its structure is coated with a highly absorbent material developed by the Italian Institute of Technology.
This innovative material can absorb up to 12 times its weight in oil, ensuring efficient collection of even the most volatile oil slick mixtures.
Introducing a groundbreaking material that can efficiently absorb oil from water
In this study, we present a novel composite material based on commercially available polyurethane foams functionalized with colloidal superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and submicrometer polytetrafluoroethylene particles, which can efficiently separate oil from water. Detailed microscopic and wettability studies reveal that the combined effects of the surface morphology and of the chemistry of the functionalized foams greatly affect the oil-absorption dynamics […]
— Athanassia Athanassiou IIT President
