Abstract
Oil is one of the important sources of energy in the modern industrial world which has to be transported from the source of production to many places across the globe through oceans and inland transport. During transportation the chance of oil spillage over the water body occurs due to accidents or by deliberate action during wartime that causes severe environmental pollution. Nanofibers, mainly fabricated by electrospinning, have exhibited great potential for many emerging environmental applications including oil spill cleanup. They can be considered as one of the safest nanomaterials due to their extremely long length (can be up to hundreds of kilometers) and their ability to be embedded within other media. Their high surface-to-volume ratio, large porosity (up to over 80 %), and adjustable functionality are also much more effective than conventional nonwoven and polymeric membranes in particulate oil sorption and oil–water separation. For sustainable environment, disposal of used sorbents is a major issue. In this context, the naturally available biodegradable materials have great potential than the synthetic ones. This chapter reviews about oil spill cleanup with special emphasis on the wetting phenomenon used for oil absorption and cross-flow filtration methods of oil spill cleanup as well as focus on the characteristics of nanofibrous oil sorbent materials, fluid flow through nanofibrous materials, and types of nanofibrous materials envisaged for making sorbents cross flow filtration membranes.