Abstract
The severity of oil pollution, brought about by improper management, increases daily with an increase in the exploration and usage of oil, especially with an increase in industrialization. Conventional oil treatment methods are either expensive or time consuming, hence the need for new technologies. The aim of this research is to synthesize polypyrrole-modified silica for the treatment of oily wastewater. Pyrrole was copolymerized with silica in the presence of ferric chloride hexahydrate by adding 23 mL of 117.4 g/dm3 ferric chloride hexahydrate drop wise to a silica-pyrrole mixture (1:2.3). The mixture was stirred for 24 h, filtered and dried at 60 °C for 24 h. The composite was then characterized using FTIR and SEM/EDX. A central composite model was developed in design expert software to describe the efficiency of oil removal using the polypyrrole-modified silica under the influence of initial oil concentration, adsorbent dosage and contact time. The synthesized adsorbent had FTIR bands at 3000–3500 cm−1 (due to the N-H), 1034 cm−1 (attributed to the Si-O of silica), 1607 cm−1 and 1615 cm−1 (due to the stretching vibration of C=C of pyrrole ring). The adsorption capacity values predicted by the central composite model were in good agreement with the actual experimental values, indicating that the model can be used to optimize the removal of oil from oily wastewater in the presence of polypyrrole-modified silica. The adsorbent showed excellent oil uptake when compared with similar materials. The optimum conditions for oil removal were 7091 mg/L oil concentration, 0.004 g adsorbent dosage and contact time of 16 h. Under these conditions, the percentage of oil adsorption was 99.3% and adsorption capacity was 8451 mg/g. As a result of the low optimum dosage and the lack of agitation, the material was found to be applicable in the remediation of field wastewater.
Highlights
Oils in wastewater are classified as either dissolved or dispersed
Methods that have been previously used in the removal of organic pollutants from water and in the treatment of oily wastewater are coagulation, filtration with coagulation, precipitation, ozonation, adsorption, Molecules 2020, 25, 4628; doi:10.3390/molecules25204628
This study reports, for the first time, the modification of silica extracted from the abundant diatomaceous earth with polypyrrole which introduces a π electron system suitable for adsorption and its application in the remediation of synthetic oily wastewater (SOWW)
Summary
Dissolved oils are either aromatics, acids or phenols, while dispersed oils are either aromatics, acids or aliphatics These groups of compounds are stable to light and heat, and as a result, they do not biodegrade and have a high pollution potential [1]. Molecules 2020, 25, 4628 ion exchange, reverse osmosis, biological methods and advanced oxidation processes. These methods, except for adsorption, are expensive to run, cannot be used without proper training, and in the case of biological methods, take up too much time [7]
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