Abstract

Determination and remediation of pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have not being fully regulated in Nigeria; hence contamination of surface water by such pollutant is a major concern. This study was designed to determine the level of selected PAHs in petroleum contaminated water using spectroscopic techniques and the efficacy of activated carbons made from Bambusa vulgaris and Oxytenanthera vabyssinaca. Bambusa vulgaris and Oxytenanthera abyssinaca were carbonized at 350OC and activated with Phosphoric acid (CBV350OC H3PO4) and Potassium chloride (COA 350OC KCl) as dehydrating agent respectively. The adsorbents were then used to remediate PAHs in petroleum contaminated water. Liquid-Liquid extraction procedures were used for extracting selected PAHs from sampled solutions. The batch experiment was performed to study the adsorption capacity of adsorbents at 5hrs contact time. Analysis of PAHs concentration for each sampling day was determined by GC-MS. Total PAHs in simulated wastewater did not show a clear trend, contrary to the expectation that there should be a progressive increase with time due to photolysis or photodecomposition of compounds or PAHs. COA 350OC KCl showed a range of 6.2-19.3% removal efficiency of each selected PAH with a total percentage efficiency of 27.7-70.8 for all days. For CBV350OC H3PO4 removal efficiency ranged from 10.26-19.30% for each selected PAH and a total efficiency of 50.8-100% for all selected PAHs for the 4 days intervals. The experimental result showed that adsorbent made from Bambusa vulgaris and Oxytenanthera abyssinaca and activated with H3PO4 and KCl as dehydrating agentrespectively can efficiently adsorb the selected PAHs in contaminated water. The study also revealed that PAHs in contaminated water increases with time due to photodecomposition, thus necessitating their treatment on time.

Highlights

  • Determination and remediation of pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have not being fully regulated in Nigeria; contamination of surface water by such pollutant is a major concern

  • This study seek to determine the level of selected PAHs in petroleum contaminated water using spectroscopic technique and examine the efficacy of carbonized Bambusa vulgaris and Oxytenanthera abyssinaca as adsorbents

  • Determination of Selected PAHs in petroleum contaminated water by GC-Mass spectrometry detector (MS): Quantification of PAHs was by an external standard method which relies on the reproducibility of the standard preparation

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Summary

Introduction

Determination and remediation of pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have not being fully regulated in Nigeria; contamination of surface water by such pollutant is a major concern. These separating techniques are useful for identification and quantification of organic contaminants, metabolites and transformation products like PAHs (Noelia, 2011; Lindholm- Lehto et al, 2016) These pollutants cause severe environmental, ecological, and economic consequences in oil spill environments, the need effective decision to prevent the long-term effect impact on such geographical isolated locations (Raymond, et al; 2017: Arockiara, et al; 2019) Most of the oil and gas industries in the Delta region make use of conventional treatment methods such as the Induced Gas Flotation (IGF) or the Induced Air Flotation known as WEMCO and Enviro-cell. This study seek to determine the level of selected PAHs in petroleum contaminated water using spectroscopic technique and examine the efficacy of carbonized Bambusa vulgaris and Oxytenanthera abyssinaca as adsorbents

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Conclusion

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