Quantitative evaluation on oil diffusion mechanisms in nano‐organic‐montmorillonite modified caster oil‐based polyurethane foam for oil/water separation

To improve the oil absorbency of caster oil‐based polyurethane foam, nano‐organic‐montmorillonite (OMMT) was used for the additives. The aim of this study is to evaluate the oil diffusion mechanism and dispersion uniformity of OMMT modified caster oil‐based polyurethane (MPU) using experiments and molecular dynamic simulation. Molecule movement and molecule trajectory of oil was investigated by molecular dynamic simulation and numerical simulation. According to the quantitative analyzing results, the diffusion model was put forward. The average diffusion coefficient of crude oil in 0, 1, 2 wt%, 4, and 6 wt% MPU is 2.4 × 10 −4 cm 2 /s, 2.6 × 10 −4 cm 2 /s, 3.0 × 10 −4 cm 2 /s, 3.2 × 10 −4 cm 2 /s, and 3.3 × 10 −4 cm 2 /s, respectively. It indicated that crude oil appeared gradient in the MPU. The optimal diffusion direction of crude oil is (0, 0, 1) crystal face, and the small particles of crude oil are easy to be adsorbed. The two‐dimensional diffusion trajectory of crude oil is nonlinear. The diffusion model includes the diffusion of crude oil at the interface of oil and polyurethane, surface diffusion and pore diffusion, and pore adsorption. Furthermore, the diffusion model showed that the van der Waals force was the main reason for crude oil diffusion or adsorption. OMMT could improve the ability of oil/water separation of polyurethane.