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Oil spill sorption using carbonized pith bagasse: trial for practical application
ABSTRACT: In the present work, an attempt was made to provide an efficient, easily deployable method of cleaning up oil spills and recovering of the oil. Carbonized pith bagasse, a relatively abundant and inexpensive material is currently being investigated as an adsorbent to remove contaminants oil from water. Fibers extracted from bagasse and carbonized at 300 C were found to have a high performance for sorption and recovery of light, heavy oils and even the viscous ones. The physical properties of pith bagasse were investigated using scanning electronic microscope to show the inner and the outer surface and the cross section area of the pith bagasse and thermo gravimetric analyzer to investigate the degradation profile of the pith bagasse. The carbonized pith bagasse was packed into a polypropylene bag and its sorption behavior was studied. A comparison was made between the prepared pad and the commercial sorbents show that the pad containing carbonized pith bagasse has higher sorption capacity in comparison to the commercial sorbents. The pad exhibited high oil retention ability and a high selectivity for the oils over the water. The pad showed a possibility of reuse for eight times. The sorption capacity of the pads containing carbonized pith bagasse was found to increase with increasing the time of sorption till it reaches the maximum value at the time of sorption equal to 60 min.
Abstract
The present study examines the absorption capacity of five different types of materials for oil spills clean up. The absorbents were a commercial cellulosic material from processed wood, a commercial synthetic organic fiber from polypropylene and three commercial types of local expanded perlite from the island of Milos. The absorption capacities of the above materials were evaluated in a wet as well as a dry environment with different types of petroleum products. The results showed that commercial types of perlite, in some cases, have absorption capacities comparable to natural and synthetic organic materials used for clean-up applications. The enhancement of the hydrophobic properties of perlite can result in better performance in a water bath. The nature of the spilled oil proved to play an important role in the selection of the proper absorbing material. Overall, the results suggested that partial substitution of commercial synthetic sorbents by mineral materials widely produced in Greece for oil spill clean-up operations is possible, given their friendliness to the environment and their local abundancy.
nonwoven material have significantly higher sorption capacities than investigated nonwoven material. White light scanning interferometry analysis of the fibers suggested that roughness of the wool fiber surface has an important role in oil sorption. The laboratory experiments demonstrated that this material is reusable. Recycled wool-based nonwoven material showed good sorption properties and adequate reusability, indicating that a material based on natural fibers could be a viable alternative to commercially available synthetic materials that have poor biodegradability.
Use of microorganism-immobilized polyurethane foams to absorb and degrade oil on water surface
Abstract
Highly oil-absorbent polyurethane foam (PUF) materials were obtained by polymerizing polyether polyol mixture and carbodiimide-modified D-methyl diisocyanate in a weight ratio of 10:2. The foam materials were prepared to contain inorganic nutrients (slow-release fertilizer; SRF) and oil-degrading yeast cells,Yarrowia lipolytica 180, to be applied for removal of oil films on surface waters through absorption and biodegradation after oil spills. PUFs absorbed 7 9times their own weight of Arabian light crude oil and the oil absorbency appeared to improve as the ratio of surface area to foam weight increased. PUFs showed excellent floatability which was maintained for more than 6 months in sea water, and less than 5% of the absorbed oil was released when the foams were left on water for more than 10 days. For immobilization of yeast cells into PUFs, various immobilization techniques were tested to compare their oil degrading ability and the maintenance thereof. All immobilized cells showed oil degrading abilities as good as those of free cells immediately after the preparation of PUFs, however, the activity of chitinimmobilized cells remained at a high level for the longest period of preservation. The high
efficiency of oil absorption and oil degradation by PUF-immobilized yeast cells suggested that PUF-immobilized cells have a high potential as a bioremediation technique for the treatment of oil films on surface waters.