A novel type of sponge-like material for the separation of mixed oil and water liquids has been prepared by the vapour deposition of hydrophobic silanes on ultra-porous nanocellulose aerogels. To achieve this, a highly porous (> 99%) nanocellulose aerogel with high structural flexibility and robustness is first formed by freeze-drying an aqueous dispersion of the nanocellulose. The density, pore size distribution and wetting properties of the aerogel can be tuned by selecting the concentration of the nanocellulose dispersion before freeze-drying. The hydrophobic light- weight aerogels are almost instantly filled with the oil phase when selectively absorbing oil from water, with a capacity to absorb up to 45 times their own weight in oil. The oil can also be drained from the aerogel and the aerogel can then be reused for a second absorption cycle.

 A novel, lightweight and strong porous cellulose material has been prepared by drying aqueous foams stabilized with surface-modified NanoFibrillated Cellulose (NFC). This material differs from other particle stabilized foams in that we use renewable cellulose as stabilizing particle. Confocal microscopy and high speed video imaging show that the long-term stability of the wet foams can be attributed to the octylamine-coated, rod-shaped NFC nanoparticles residing at the air-liquid interface which prevent the air bubbles from collapsing or coalescing. This can be achieved at solids content around 1 % by weight. Careful removal of the water results in a cellulose-based material with a porosity of 98 % and a density of 30 mg cm-3. These porous cellulose materials have a higher Young’s modulus than other cellulose materials made by freeze drying and a compressive energy absorption of 56 kJ m-3 at 80 % strain. Measurement with the aid of an autoporosimeter revealed that most pores are in the range of 300 to 500 μm.