Sorbent

Material that absorbs or adsorbs

Cross-section of a gas mask filter, with sorbent material visible

A sorbent is an insoluble material that either absorbs or adsorbs liquids[1] or gases.[2] They are frequently used to remove pollutants and in the cleanup of chemical accidents[3] and oil spills.[4] Besides their uses in industry, sorbents are used in commercial products such as diapers[5] and odor absorbents,[6] and are researched for applications in environmental air analysis, particularly in the analysis of volatile organic compounds.[7] The name sorbent is derived from sorption,[8] which is itself a derivation from adsorption and absorption.[9]

## Mechanism of action

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Sorbents collect specific liquids or gases depending on the composition of the material being used in the sorbent. Some of the most common sorbents used to clean oil spills are made from materials that are both oleophilic and hydrophobic, have high surface area through structural designs that include pores and capillaries, and draw in liquid through capillary action.[1] Sorbents may be used to collect undesirable ions and act like a reusable ion-exchange resin, composed of charged layers of material that can be heated or otherwise treated to remove pollutants.[10] In this and similar cases, pollutant particles are attracted to the sorbent through electrostatic forces.[11] Some sorbents chemically bind to particles through chemical adsorption, or chemisorption; this process is often more difficult to reverse.[12]

## Examples

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Sorbents come in various forms and materials, including:

* Activated carbon, the most widely used sorbent, which has been known and manufactured since the 19th century,[13]
* Molecular sieves, commonly made from zeolite,[14]
* Sponges, which can absorb many times their own weight in liquid,[15]
* Polypropylene fiber mats, which can be employed to absorb oil,[16]
* Cellulose fiber products used for oil or chemical sorption,[3]
* The granular gel material in diapers, capable of absorbing multiple times its original weight in urine,[5]
* Incontinence pads, which may also incorporate nonwoven fabric as a sorbent,[17] and
* Desiccants, which attract water, thereby drying (desiccating) surrounding materials.[18]

## References

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1. ^ a b Willis 2009, p. vii.
2. ^ Auckett et al. 2018, p. 669.
3. ^ a b Ji et al. 2019, p. 2588.
4. ^ Ge et al. 2016, p. 10459.
5. ^ a b Georgiev, Paweł; Belka, Mariusz; Bączek, Tomasz; Płotka-Wasylka, Justyna (June 2023). "The presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in disposable baby diapers: A facile determination method via salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry". Journal of Chromatography A. 1698: 463981. doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2023.463981. PMID 37098291.
6. ^ Tanaka, Akihiro (July 2009). "Odor Emission Control during Composting Cattle Manure by using Compost Deodorization and utilization of Nitrogen Enriched Compost". Nioi Kaori Kankyou Gakkaishi (in Japanese). 40 (4). Japan Association on Odor Environment: 229–234\. doi:10.2171/jao.40.229. ISSN 1348-2904.
7. ^ Willis 2009, pp. 99–102.
8. ^ "Definition of 'sorbent'". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
9. ^ "Definition of 'sorption'". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
10. ^ Zhenissova, Akbota; Micheli, Francesca; Rossi, Leucio; Stendardo, Stefano; Foscolo, Pier Ugo; Gallucci, Katia (April 2014). "Experimental evaluation of Mg- and Ca-based synthetic sorbents for CO2 capture". Chemical Engineering Research and Design. 92 (4): 727–740\. doi:10.1016/j.cherd.2013.11.005.
11. ^ Willis 2009, p. 368.
12. ^ Farrukh, Sarah; Fan, Xianfeng; Mustafa, Kiran; Hussain, Arshad; Ayoub, Muhammad; Younas, Mohammad (2021), "Chemisorption", Nanotechnology and the Generation of Sustainable Hydrogen, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 83–93, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-60402-8_8, ISBN 978-3-030-60401-1, retrieved 2024-07-11
13. ^ Yang 2003, p. 79.
14. ^ Yang 2003, pp. 157–187.
15. ^ Gatou, Maria-Anna; Tsoukleris, Dimitrios; Pavlatou, Evangelia A.; Lagopati, Nefeli (2020-02-19). "Commercial Sponges as A Novel Technology for Crude Oil Removal from Seawater and Industrial Wastewater: A Review". Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research. 25 (5): 19426–19436\. doi:10.26717/BJSTR.2020.25.004251. ISSN 2574-1241.
16. ^ Bayat, A.; Aghamiri, S. F.; Moheb, A.; Vakili-Nezhaad, G. R. (December 2005). "Oil Spill Cleanup from Sea Water by Sorbent Materials". Chemical Engineering & Technology. 28 (12): 1525–1528\. doi:10.1002/ceat.200407083. ISSN 0930-7516.
17. ^ Das, Dipayan; Pradhan, Arun Kumar; Pourdeyhimi, Behnam (2012-11-05). "Dependence of the liquid absorption behavior of nonwovens on their material and structural characteristics: Modeling and experiments". Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 126 (3): 1053–1060\. doi:10.1002/app.36635. ISSN 0021-8995.
18. ^ Flörke, Otto W.; Graetsch, Heribert A.; Brunk, Fred; Benda, Leopold; Paschen, Siegfried; Bergna, Horacio E.; Roberts, William O.; Welsh, William A.; Libanati, Cristian; Ettlinger, Manfred; Kerner, Dieter; Maier, Monika; Meon, Walter; Schmoll, Ralf; Gies, Hermann; Schiffmann, Dietmar (April 15, 2008). "Silica". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (1 ed.). Wiley. doi:10.1002/14356007.a23_583.pub3. ISBN 978-3-527-30385-4.

* Willis, Thomas P. (2009). Sorbents: Properties, Materials and Applications. Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1-60741-851-1.
* Auckett, Josie E.; Duyker, Samuel G.; Turner, David R.; Batten, Stuart R.; Peterson, Vanessa K. (July 2018). "Insights into Selective Gas Sorbent Functionality Gained by Using Time-Resolved Neutron Diffraction". ChemPlusChem. 83 (7): 669–675\. doi:10.1002/cplu.201800210. ISSN 2192-6506. PMID 31950628.
* Ji, Seulgi; Kim, Seong K.; Song, Wooseok; Myung, Sung; Lim, Jongsun; Jung, Ha-Kyun; An, Ki-Seok; Lee, Sun Sook (March 2019). "An eco-friendly cellulose acetate chemical sorbent for hazardous volatile organic liquid spill: a perfect material to solve the issue of evaporating hazards". Cellulose. 26 (4): 2587–2597\. doi:10.1007/s10570-019-02264-9. ISSN 0969-0239.
* Ge, Jin; Zhao, Hao-Yu; Zhu, Hong-Wu; Huang, Jin; Shi, Lu-An; Yu, Shu-Hong (December 2016). "Advanced Sorbents for Oil-Spill Cleanup: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives". Advanced Materials. 28 (47): 10459–10490\. Bibcode:2016AdM....2810459G. doi:10.1002/adma.201601812. ISSN 0935-9648. PMID 27731513.
* Yang, Ralph T. (2003). Adsorbents: fundamentals and applications. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley-Interscience. ISBN 978-0-471-29741-3.

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