Low-Cost, Sustainable, and Environmentally Sound Cellulose Absorbent with High Efficiency for Collecting Methane Bubbles from Seawater

The use of natural materials to solve environmental problems is intended to decrease the burden on the global environment. In this paper, we describe a natural, repeatable, and low-cost method for terminating methane bubbles under water before they release into the atmosphere. A cellulose aerogel with porous structure and large surface area was fabricated via combining a dry pulp disintegration process with freeze-drying. The aerogel became superhydrophobic after it was modified with methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS); therefore, it was able to effectively collect and store transport methane bubbles under water. The hydrophobic cellulose aerogel (HCA) exhibited exceptional performance for collecting methane bubbles under both static and dynamic absorption-release conditions. We hope this work will inspire alternative methods for the exploitation and elimination of environmental methane with the potential to alleviate global warming.