Preparation of hydrophobic cellulose aerogels and their application in emergency treatment of benzene-series contaminated water

Frequent incidents of regional benzene-series leakage raised new demands for emergency sorbent materials, which needed to combine high adsorption capacity with strong hydrophobicity and selectivity. In this study, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was used as the raw material to prepare cellulose hydrogels via a sol-gel method. Hydrophobic cellulose aerogels were subsequently obtained through surface modification with methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) using an immersion process followed by freeze-drying. The structure and properties of the resulting materials were characterized by SEM, FT-IR and hydrophobicity measurements. The optimal preparation conditions were determined experimentally, and the adsorption performance was systematically evaluated. The material achieved complete adsorption of three typical benzene derivatives—p-xylene, toluene, and benzene—within 5 min, with an oil retention rate of up to 99.8%. Temperature tests indicated that the saturated adsorption capacity was scarcely affected by temperature. Turbidity experiments simulating real water environments demonstrated that the aerogel maintained more than 91% of its original saturated adsorption capacity under high-turbidity conditions. These findings suggested that the hydrophobic cellulose aerogel possessed high adsorption efficiency and strong resistance to environmental interference, indicating its great potential for emergency treatment of benzene-series contamination in aquatic environments.