Ultrafast reclamation of fracking effluents using surface-engineered nanosilicon sponges

Effluents from the fracking process are typically discharged at elevated temperatures and are a major environmental concern. We applied a surface-engineered sponge (SEnS) with thermal stability up to 220 ºC to reclaim emulsified oily wastewater at discharge temperatures between 30-100 ºC. The sponge achieved 92-96% removal efficiency within 5 minutes, where speed increased by 27% by melting waxes. The adsorbed oil from the SEnS was also recovered within 1-2 minutes by diluent wash. These performance metrics suggest that SEnS could emerge as a practical solution to achieve fracking water reclamation processes’ Net-Zero goals.