Oil spill pollution in seawater — a hindrance for desalination

Abstract

UNO has estimated fresh water deficit as 230 billion m3/y by the end of 21 st century. It has been reported that about 10,000 people die every day and thousands suffer from scarcity of fresh water, as it has become one of the most critical problems in our planet. Desalination is an ideal solution for many regions like GCC, which suffer from non-availability of fresh water. Oil spill pollution — a severe environmental problem, which has a considerable effect on desalination of seawater across the world, has grown to an alarming magnitude with increased levels of oil production and transport. Causes of it are either accidental or due to operation wherever oil is produced, transported, stored and used on sea or land. GCC depend primarily on desalination of seawater for catering to the needs of basic water requirement. Removal of oil pollution from seawater prior to its desalination helps in saving time and cost thus improving the quality of useable water. Objectives of the present work include testing of four different materials in separating oil from water having different oil concentrations along with its efficiency of removal. The work focuses on the effect of time of contact and dosage of materials used for oil removal. Locally available Corchorus depressus has proved to be more effective in addressing this problem, and at the same time its byproduct does not give rise to unwanted hazard to the marine life.