Organic Bio-Based Aerogel from Food Waste: Preparation and Hydrophobization

In this work, organic aerogels from spent ground coffee and apple pomace were prepared and characterized for the first time. Apple aerogel was found to be much lighter than that from coffee (0.19 vs. 0.016 g/cm<sup>3</sup>, whereas the specific surface areas are comparable (229 vs. 208 m...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Giulia Gaggero, Raman P. Subrahmanyam, Baldur Schroeter, Pavel Gurikov, Marina Delucchi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-10-01
Series:Gels
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/8/11/691
Description
Summary:In this work, organic aerogels from spent ground coffee and apple pomace were prepared and characterized for the first time. Apple aerogel was found to be much lighter than that from coffee (0.19 vs. 0.016 g/cm<sup>3</sup>, whereas the specific surface areas are comparable (229 vs. 208 m<sup>2</sup>/g). Being intrinsically hydrophilic, these aerogels were silanized, both in liquid and gas phase, to increase stability in aqueous media. The latter modification method allowed chemical grafting of the silane to the aerogel surface (evidenced by FTIR and TGA) and resulted in certain hydrophobicity, as was evidenced via contact angle measurements: both aerogels possess a contact angle of ca. 100° after the gas hydrophobization, while for the pristine aerogels it was 50°. Furthermore, it was observed that the gas-phase silanization process is more applicable to apple aerogels.
ISSN:2310-2861