Abstract
In this work, we report polyurethane foam, sunflower husk and rice husk ash prepared via a thermal treatment process used as oil sorbents for oil spill cleanup. The oil sorbent was studied on the basis of microstructure and morphology using optical digital microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of the SEM and optical microscopy studies strongly indicate that thermal treatment is a suitable method to improve structure of husk particles regarding porosity compared to virgin samples. The dependence of the sorption capacity of the sorbents on the amount of sorbent, sorption time and the thickness of the oil film, as well as the number of cycles of the sorbents were investigated.