Fabrication of magnetically engineered nanosorbent for separation and determination of organic sulfur containing oil pollution in environmental water samples

Abstract

In this study, an engineered Fe3O4@SiO2-SH core–shell was synthesized as a novel, selective, efficient, cost-effective, and magnetic nanosorbent from natural materials such as sea sand and rice husk. TEM, FE-SEM, EDX, XRD, TGA, VSM, BET, and FTIR were used for the characterization of nanosorbents. A comprehensive study has been done for the adsorption and determination of thiophene as an important sulfur-containing aromatic petroleum contamination. Adsorption isotherms, kinetics and thermodynamics were also studied. Determination of thiophene was done by UV–Vis spectroscopy at 222 nm. The effective parameters in the separation and determination of thiophene were optimized. The detection limit of the method is equivalent to 88 µg/L and the dynamic linear range is in the range of 800 to 19200 µg/L. Based on the Langmuir isotherm, the maximum absorption capacity for the nanoabsorbent is 204.08 mg/g. River water, textile factory effluent, and oil refinery effluent were successfully applied as the real samples for separation and determination of thiophene. The results were checked with spike recovery test and direct measurement gas chromatography method. The statistical analysis shows a good agreement between the results of the two methods.