Synthesis of natural superabsorbent organic hybrid aerogel from sodium alginate-soy protein isolate

The aerogel now become most famous thing from drug delivery carrier to superabsorbent. The superabsorbent made from the sodium alginate aerogel allow it to absorb water up to higher ratio per weight. But nowadays, there is an issue of oil become a threat in many processes such as wastewater. The high content of oil will hinder the process of treating the wastewater. The usage of oil superabsorbent has known to be expensive in cost and cannot be use more than once. By using sodium alginate and soy protein isolate, the sol-gel technique is applying to form superabsorbent to absorb oil. However, this can be done by soaking the hydrogel with Methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS), Tetra Ethyl Orthosilane (TEOS) and ethanol with ratio of 1:1:2. The aerogel is left in room within 24 hours after surface modification. The aerogel combine with MTMS does affect the shrinkage at it lower shrink percentage by 5-7%, able to get hydrophobic aerogel with angle 112.5o and 117 o with oil absorption above 40%. The hydrophobic superabsorbent can be made although it is not able to absorb much compare to superabsorbent