Separation of emulsified oil from wastewater using polystyrene and surfactant modified sugarcane bagasse wastes blend

Abstract

A recent trend for converting a hydrophilic lignocellulosic material into oleophilic adsorbent could be achieved by using cationic surfactants. In the present work, the surface of sugarcane bagasse was modified by cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, whereas sugarcane bagasse acquired hydrophobic properties. Further increase in hydrophobicity of sugarcane bagasse could be obtained by blending surfactant modified sugarcane bagasse with polystyrene waste. Sugarcane bagasse, surfactant modified bagasse and polystyrene waste/surfactant modified bagasse were characterized by different physical and chemical techniques. Remarkable changes in the structure of sugarcane bagasse as a result of the different treatment processes could be evidenced by FT-IR, SEM and XRD measurements. Moreover, elemental analysis, specific surface area as well as water absorption capacity results confirmed successful modification of sugarcane bagasse by both cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and polystyrene waste. Also, water absorption capacity experiments indicated that hydrophobic properties of the different samples increased in the order: polystyrene waste/surfactant modified bagasse > surfactant modified bagasse > sugarcane bagasse. The different samples were evaluated for removal of emulsified food oil from aqueous solutions. The effect of various parameters, e.g., blend constituents weight ratio, adsorbent dose, initial oil concentration, pH and contact time upon oil removal efficiency, was investigated. Isothermal studies revealed that oil adsorption fitted Freundlich model and thermodynamics studies showed that oil adsorption is spontaneous, random and exothermic.