Studies on needle punched nonwoven fabrics made from natural fiber blends for oil sorbent applications

Oil retention of needle punched nonwoven fabrics made from coarse cotton, fine cotton, jute, kapok and its blends were reported. Based on the previous research work, oil retention of nonwoven fabrics is highly influenced by fiber diameter, fabric porosity and oil properties. In this study blended needle punched nonwoven samples were produced using fibers with wide variation in fiber diameter. Coarse jute fiber was blended with fine fibers of cotton and kapok to improve structural stability after sorption of oil. Needle punched nonwoven fabrics were produced using jute fiber ratio of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% with 25% kapok, 25% coarse cotton and remaining fine cotton fibers. Oil retention capacities of needle punched nonwoven fabrics were found to be in the range of 7.75 g/g to 16.60 g/g under various process conditions. It has been noted that an increase in the jute fiber content in the nonwoven fabrics increases the oil retention capacity of the samples. Jute fibers act as columns in fiber structural assembly and it is the stiffer fiber than other three fibers used in the needle punched nonwovens. Thickness of nonwoven needle punched fabrics change after sorption of oil from 1.5% to 5%, which reduced on increasing jute fiber content in the blends.