Oil pollution is of great significance in environmental pollution. Therefore

the disposal of oily wastewater has become a worldwide challenge. At present

oil-absorbing materials are mainly composed of synthetic polymers

which is difficult to degrade to cause secondary pollution. As an inexpensive natural polymer

zein is an amino acid-based vegetable protein with biocompatibility and biodegradability.We found that zein can be used to prepare edible composites and controlled release materials. Herein

using sol-gel method

the zein-based polymer gel was prepared by zein and poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA). With further surface modification by silane coupling agent and in-situ precipitation for introducing Fe

3

O

4

the zein-based magnetic polymer gel was successively prepared. Its morphology and structure were characterized by FT-IR

SEM and TG. It indicated that the polymer gel had a multi-layered network structure and the contact angle was 132.77°. The modified gel has significant capabilities of oil-water separation and magnetic separation

which will provide efficient and environmentally friendly Environmentally friendly adsorption materials for water treatment and environmental protection.