Oil spill removal from water by using corn stalk: factors affecting sorption process

Abstract

Oil spills impose a major problem on the environmental and economic impact. Mechanical recovery of oil is one of the most important countermeasures in marine oil spill. Development of the oil sorbent made of organic waste material were initiated in order to provide the resources for oil spill with less environmental load and cost. Corn stalk (agriculture residue) is widely spread throughout the world. The present technologically fast changing situation resulted to waste management practices; it is desirable that the disposal of plant waste should be done in a scientific manner by keeping in view the economic and pollution consideration. This is only possible when the plant waste has the potential to be used as a raw material for some useful products. This work examined the using of corn stalk waste agriculture in oil spill clean-up. The investigation revealed that particle size, sorbent weight, temperature, reusability and oil property are the most important factors affecting the oil-sorption performance of corn stalk waste agriculture. The higher sorption capacity of oil was 11.04, 9.65 and 3.95 g oil/g sorbent according to oil type, these values were achieved by using 0.8 mm particle size and 15 minutes sorption time at 20 ± 1°C bath temperature.