Soybean Lecithin as a Dispersant for Crude Oil Spills

Abstract

The toxicity of oil spill dispersants to marine organisms has necessitated the search for alternative dispersant formulations that are environmentally benign. Soybean lecithin, a well-known surface active agent in the food industry, is effective at stabilizing oil-in-water emulsions. In addition to its excellent emulsification properties, it is biodegradable, less toxic than the traditional chemical dispersants, and ecologically acceptable. In this study, soybean lecithin was used to formulate dispersants for crude oil spill application. Soybean lecithin was fractionated into phosphatidylinositol (PI) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) enriched fractions using ethanol. The fractionated PI was deoiled and characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The crude soybean lecithin (CL) and the fractionated PI and PC were solubilized in water and their dispersion effectiveness determined using the U.S. EPA’s baffled flask test. The dispersion effectiveness of these solubilized dispersants was co...