English: These hydrophobic sands were prepared in Dr. Gulnar Sugurbekova's group at Physical Chemistry Laboratory in NLA. One of the compelling characteristics of these home synthesized sands is that they have superior quality than commercially available sands in terms of retaining their hydrophobic behavior after exposure to intolerant chemicals and physical conditions . The economic and manufacturing cost analysis showed that these newly developed sands are several orders cheaper per unit mass in comparison to the ones currently available in the market. The hydrophobic sand has many promising applications in many areas one of which is to reduce wasteful water consumption during irrigation process in agriculture as well as it can be utilized in combatting oil spill.

English: Non-wetting behavior of a surface of pelletized highly hydrophobic sand. Contact angle between water droplet and the surface is 145.22 degrees.