Synthesis, Characteristics, Oil Adsorption, and Thermal Insulation Performance of Cellulosic Aerogel Derived from Water Hyacinth

[Image: see text] Cellulosic aerogel from water hyacinth (WH) was synthesized to address the dual environmental issues of water hyacinth pollution and the production of a green material. Raw WH was treated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) with microwave assistance and in combination with hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). The results from X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that lignin and hemicellulose were markedly decreased after treatment, reducing from 24.02% hemicellulose and 5.67% lignin in raw WH to 8.32 and 1.92%, respectively. Cellulose aerogel from the pretreated WH had a high porosity of 98.8% with a density of 0.0162 g·cm(–3) and a low thermal conductivity of 0.030 W·m(–1)·K(–1). After modification with methyl trimethoxysilane (MTMS) to produce a highly hydrophobic material, WH aerogel exhibited high stability for oil absorption at a capacity of 43.3, 43.15, 40.40, and 41.88 (g·g(–1)) with diesel oil (DO), motor oil (MO), and their mixture with water (DO + W and MO + W), respectively. The adsorption remained stable after 10 cycles.