A sponge heated by electromagnetic induction and solar energy for quick, efficient, and safe cleanup of high-viscosity crude oil spills

Frequent oil spills have caused severe environmental and ecological damage. Effective cleanup has become a complex challenge owing to the poor flowability of viscous crude oils. The current method of solar heating to reduce the viscosity of heavy oil is only suitable during sunny days, while the use of Joule heating is limited by the risk of direct exposure to high-voltage electricity. Herein, we demonstrate a noncontact electromagnetic induction and solar dual-heating sponge for the quick, safe, and energy-saving cleanup of ultrahigh-viscosity heavy oil. The resulting sponge with magnetic, conductive, and hydrophobic properties can be rapidly heated to absorb heavy oil under alternating magnetic fields, solar irradiation, or both of these conditions. By constructing theoretical models and fitting the actual data, an in-depth analysis of induction and solar heating processes is carried out. The sponge has excellent resilience and stability, indicating its reusability, fast and continuous adsorption (16.17 g in 10 s), and large capacity (75-81 g/g, the highest value ever) for soft asphalt (a highly viscous crude oil). This work provides a new noncontact dual-heating strategy for heavy oil cleanup, in which absorbents use induction heating during an emergency and then switch to partial or full solar heating to save energy in sunny conditions. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATION: Heavy oils stranded on the beach or floating on water can kill underwater plants by blocking sunlight, or trap water birds and other animals. Heavy oil also contains aromatic substances that are toxic to aquatic organisms. Although oil spills near shallow water cannot be cleaned up by fences or other machinery, an oil adsorbent can deal with this problem. However, common adsorbents cannot effectively absorb high-viscosity oils, such as heavy oil. In this paper, an induction and solar dual-heating sponge is developed for the effective cleanup of high-viscosity oil.