Process Reversibility and Reuse of Aerogels

A key factor for the practical usefulness of aerogel-based hydrocarbon sorption systems is the reusability. Because aerogels are extremely expensive to produce (Chap. 26), some of the added cost must be compensated by exactly those types of practical aspects. As part of our preliminary studies on the reversibility of the sorption and desorption of superhydrophobic aerogels with various organics, the following trends were observed  

These preliminary results indicate the potential usefulness of these systems for spill clean-up of typical organic solvents. Even though the performance of the aerogel sponge 

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