Prospects of conducting polymer as an adsorbent for used lubricant oil reclamation

Abstract

Lubricant oil is used for reducing friction, dust, corrosion and protection against wear between metallic parts which are in contact with each other in different types of machines and engines. Used lubricant oils (ULOs) are highly polluted materials and it is harmful to nature. These pollutants contains toxic materials such as Poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and soot, air dust and heavy metals, makes black oil as a serious hazard. If not properly handled or disposed of, this can lead to significant health and environmental problems. Hence, the controlling of waste oil needs a sustainable solution for effective management and protection of the environment. Treatment of used lubricant oil is one of the simplest routes to discard polluted materials from waste oil. Over the decades, researchers have investigated several reported methods for refining used lubricant oil. Meanwhile, Adsorption is an effective pre-treatment strategy for preliminary purification of used lubricant oil. Conducting polymers (CPs) have attracted a lot of attention due to its unique electronic and optical properties. In this review, various types of conducting polymer based adsorbents are discussed to remove impure toxic materials from any type of aqueous solution. Thus, the main purpose of this review is to explore how conducting polymer and its composites can use for refining used lubricant oil. Waste lubricating oil can be pretreated in advance by filtering it via a column packed with conducting polymer-based clay composites.