Diesel Oil Removal Research Articles

Removal of Diesel Oil from Aqueous Solution Using Agro-Waste Activated Carbon Synthesized by Chemical and Microwave Activation

Removal of Diesel Oil from Aqueous Solution Using Agro-Waste Activated Carbon Synthesized by Chemical and Microwave Activation

Batch adsorption of diesel oil in water using saba banana peel biochar immobilized in teabags

Diesel oil contamination is a threat to environment and human health. Many technologies have been developed to address this issue; however, they are costly to be deployed in real-world oil remediation. Adsorption remains to be one of the most economical methods to remove oil from water. Here, we used banana peel biochar (BPBC) immobilized in teabags as an adsorbent for the removal of diesel oil in water. We investigated the adsorption behavior of BPBC under different conditions, examining the influence of adsorbent loading, pH, salinity, and contact time on its efficiency for removing diesel oil in water. Our results show that the sorption capacity of BPBC is significantly affected by the amount of adsorbent used. Lower biochar loadings enhance the sorption capacity due to greater surface area accessibility, while higher loadings lead to decreased efficiency due to pore blockage and reduced surface exposure. Interestingly, the pH of the solution was found to have minimal impact on the sorption process. This is attributed to diesel oil’s hydrophobic and non-polar nature, which leads to its interaction with BPBC being predominantly governed by hydrophobic forces instead of pH-sensitive electrostatic interactions. Salinity emerged as a crucial factor in the adsorption process. An increase in salinity enhances the sorption capacity, likely due to the “salting-out” effect, where higher salt concentrations decrease the solubility of diesel oil, promoting its adsorption onto the biochar surface. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of contact time, with longer exposure resulting in increased sorption capacity. This trend is explained by the adsorption kinetics, initially characterized by rapid adsorption, followed by a slower, progressive occupation of the biochar’s adsorption sites. The kinetic analysis of the process suggests that the pseudo-second-order model is more suitable, indicating a chemisorption mechanism. The Harkins–Jura isotherm model was identified as the best fit for explaining the isotherm behavior, owing to its capacity to account for the heterogeneous nature of the biochar surface and the formation of multiple adsorbate layers. The optimum conditions for maximum diesel oil removal are as follows: BPBC loading of 0.50 g, a solution pH of 5.00, a salinity concentration of 12,656.57 mg/L, and a contact time of 240 min. Under these conditions, BPBC exhibited an adsorption capacity of 19.04 g/g. In summary, our research establishes BPBC, particularly when contained within teabags, as an efficient and practical adsorbent for diesel oil removal in water. Its effectiveness, superior to other biochar, is mainly due to its porosity and hydrophobic properties. These findings not only enhance our understanding of BPBC’s adsorption capabilities but also underscore its potential for environmental remediation.Graphical

Removal of diesel oil from water using biochar derived from waste banana peels as adsorbent

Here, banana peel biochar (BPBC) generated from discarded saba banana peels powder (SBPP) was utilized as an adsorbent in this study to remove diesel oil from water. The BPBC was synthesized using a slow pyrolysis method and characterized using SEM, EDX, FTIR, DSC, TGA, BET, contact angle analyzer, and XRD. The results showed that BPBC exhibited high porosity, thermal stability, and hydrophobic character, making it a promising adsorbent for oil-water separation and environmental remediation. The adsorption capacity of BPBC for diesel oil removal was examined in terms of adsorbent dose, pH level, salinity, and contact time. Increasing the BPBC dosage, contact time, and salinity significantly enhanced the sorption capacity, however, pH variations had no significant effect on adsorption. Adsorption parameters were correlated using a reduced cubic model, and an adsorbent dose of 2.50 g, pH of 7.00, salinity of 44,999.95 mg/L, and contact duration of 240 minutes were found to be optimal, producing a sorption capacity of 5.3352 g diesel oil/g adsorbent. The adsorption process was characterized by the first-order kinetic model. The creation of multilayer adsorption on the BPBC surface was confirmed by the BET isotherm. Adsorption characterization revealed changes in the surface morphology, elemental analysis, and functional groups of BPBC after adsorption. SEM revealed occupied surface pores, and EDX analysis verified an increase in carbon content. The presence of adsorbed diesel oil molecules on the BPBC surface was detected by FTIR analysis, which exhibited changes in peak appearance and functional group shifts. Overall, this study presents an adsorbent derived from waste material for diesel oil adsorption, which is useful for remediating oil spills and for wastewater treatment.Graphical

Rational Use of Energy in Sport Centers to Achieving Net Zero—The SAVE Project (Part B: Indoor Sports Hall)

Sports centers are significant energy consumers. This article outlines the engineering design for a comprehensive energy performance upgrade of the indoor sports hall in Arkalochori, Greece, and presents the projected results. The indoor sports hall constitutes a major sport facility on the mainland of Crete, hosting a broad cluster of sport municipal activities and the official basketball games of the local team in the 2nd national category. Having been constructed in the mid-1990s, the facility exhibits very low thermal performance, with considerably high U-factors for all constructive elements (from 4 to 5 W/m2∙K), still use of diesel oil for indoor space heating and domestic heat water production, and ineffective old lamps and luminaries covering the lighting needs of the facility. The energy performance upgrade of the indoor sports hall was studied, and the following passive and active measures were considered: Opaque-surfaces’ thermal insulation and openings’ replacement, stone wool panels, installation of heat pumps for indoor space conditioning, removal of diesel oil for any end use, production of domestic hot water from a novel solar-combi system, upgrade of lighting equipment, installation of solar tubes on the main sports hall roof for natural lighting as well as of a photovoltaic system for covering the remaining electricity consumption. With the proposed interventions, the studied building becomes a zero-energy facility. The payback period of the investment was calculated at 26 years on the basis of the avoided energy cost. This work was funded by the “NESOI” Horizon 2020 project and received the public award “Islands Gamechanger” competition of the NESOI project and the Clean Energy for EU Islands initiative.

Use of Taguchi design for optimization of diesel-oil biodegradation using consortium of Pseudomonas stutzeri, Cellulosimicrobium cellulans, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas balearica isolated from tarball in Terengganu Beach, Malaysia.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40201-022-00812-3.

Efficiently remove of diesel oil pollutants in the marine environment by a novel biological-C14H32O3Si-Enteromorpha: Preparation, mechanism, and application

Enteromorpha has large biomass and high specific surface area, and C14H32O3Si can help Enteromorpha achieved hydrophobic and oleophilic. However, the diesel oil adsorption capacity of C14H32O3Si-Enteromorpha was limited. Herein, biological modification was adopted to C14H32O3Si-Enteromorpha and the diesel oil adsorption capacity was successfully improved. A biological-C14H32O3Si-Enteromorpha adsorbent was prepared at first, and the adsorption mechanism of diesel oil was comprehensively analyzed by surface morphology, docking mode, adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherm. Last, biological-C14H32O3Si-Enteromorpha adsorbent was applied in a small-scale reactor, the diesel oil removal rate and the reusability of adsorbent was studied. The diesel oil adsorption capacity of successful biological modification of C14H32O3Si-Enteromorpha was 14.56 g/g, representing a 27.72 % increase. The diesel oil removal capacity improved due to functional groups added and hydrogen bonds formed after the C14H32O3Si-Enteromorpha modification. Meanwhile, the mainly diesel oil adsorption process of biological-C14H32O3Si-Enteromorpha was chemical adsorption. Furthermore, biological-C14H32O3Si-Enteromorpha has efficient and recycling potential for diesel oil adsorption application, which was greater than 80 % diesel oil removal rate after six cycles of adsorption experiments. Our reported biological modification C14H32O3Si-Enteromorpha will provide a new avenue to treat marine oil pollution and contribute to the protection of marine ecological environment.

Electromagnetic Properties Monitoring to Detect Different Biodegradation Kinetics in Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soil

The electromagnetic properties (electrical permittivity and electrical conductivity) of three different soil mesocosms polluted with diesel oil were monitored using a time-domain reflectometry probe for 8 months. The main target of the research was to establish a relationship between the development of biological activity within the mesocosms and the temporal behaviour of electromagnetic properties. The trend of the electromagnetic properties exhibited different responses that could be related to the composition of the mesocosms and their variation with time during the runs. We considered three different mesocosms with similar soil conditions and the same diesel oil concentration: porosity of 45%, volumetric diesel oil content of 9%, and volumetric water content of 15%. The first one was subjected to a natural attenuation (NA), the second one was biostimulated without inoculation (BS), and the third one was biostimulated with inoculation (BS + IN). The biostimulated mesocosms showed a marked decrease in electrical permittivity and electrical conductivity, whereas the naturally attenuated mesocosm did not show these variations. Between the biostimulated mesocosms, the inoculated one showed the fastest variations in the electromagnetic properties. The microbial activity and the pollutant degradation were evidenced by the analyses performed at the end of the experiment. As demonstrated by the results for the fluorescein diacetate analysis, the microbial activity was a bit higher for the inoculated microcosm, which also showed faster variations of the electromagnetic properties. In the biostimulated mesocosms, the removal of diesel oil was 66% and 72%, respectively. With natural attenuation, there was a limited removal efficiency, in the order of 2%. Even if the electromagnetic properties evidenced different kinetics of bioremediation in BS and BS + IN, both were able to successfully degrade similar percentages of the contaminant after 8 months. The long monitoring revealed that a substantial decrease in the electromagnetic properties happened only in the first month after contamination. Additionally, an increasing trend of the permittivity was detected in the following months, before reaching a steady-state condition. This study revealed that biodegradation processes with acceptable overall removal efficiency can be monitored successfully by observing the variations in the electromagnetic properties.

Enhanced Removal of Diesel Oil Using New Magnetic Bentonite-Based Adsorbents Combined with Different Carbon Sources

In this work, new magnetic bentonite-based adsorbents combined with different carbon sources, namely, reduced graphene oxide and multiwall carbon nanotubes, were synthesized via co-precipitation method. The synthesized adsorbents were characterized using XRD, TGA, SEM, EDX, TEM, and BET analysis techniques. The adsorbents were then used to remove oil from aqueous solutions of water-in-oil emulsion by performing batch adsorption experiments. The experimental data were fitted to three isotherm models including Langmuir, Freundlich, and Sips models using non-linear regression and were compared using Akaike Information Criterion statistical model. The data analysis showed that Sips model best fits the experimental data for the adsorption of oil onto both adsorbents. The maximum adsorption capacity of oil from sips model were 81.65 mg/g and 77.12 mg/g for Fe3O4/Bent/rGO and Fe3O4//Bent/MWCNTs, respectively. The obtained kinetics data were fitted to pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intraparticle diffusion models. Pseudo-second order kinetic model best fitted the kinetic data of both adsorbents. Overall, both adsorbents showed high removal efficiency reaching equilibrium in less than 50 min indicating that both adsorbents can be successfully utilized in industrial adsorption process.Graphical abstract

Preparation of highly hydrophobic sepiolite for efficient oil removal

Oil spill cleanup has aroused increasing concern in environmental protection, which makes the development of a low-cost absorbent with good hydrophobicity to be a task of high practical significance. In this work, a novel and highly hydrophobic absorbent based on natural clay minerals was prepared and used for oil removal from water. The originally hydrophilic sepiolite was modified by tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS) through a one-pot direct modification. The pristine and modified sepiolite (MS) were characterized for hydrophobicity, morphology, and composition. The results showed that the modify agent was successfully grafted onto the sepiolite surface, improved the roughness and disaggregation of fibers. And MS exhibited higher contact angle compared to the pristine sample. The diesel oil removal efficiency of MS was significantly higher compared to pristine sepiolite. The surface roughness and high hydrophobic properties played important role in the retention of oil from water. This study presented a facile method to produce promising absorbent based on clay minerals with excellent properties for oil spill cleanup.

Adsorption of crude and waste diesel oil onto agar-carboxymethylcellulose-silver nanocomposite in aqueous media

Waste containing oil is generally classified as hazardous pollutants especially aquatic environment. A new agar-CMC-silver (AG-CMC-Agnp) nanocomposite was synthesized by surface modification of cellulose (extracted from Egyptian macroalga Ulva fasciata) to carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) anchored on silver nanoparticles (Agnp), followed by agar (AG; extracted from Gelidium crinale). A batch study was applied to evaluate the efficacy of these biomaterials to remove crude and waste diesel oil from water. The optimum parameters affecting oil adsorption (oil concentration, contact time, temperature, and sorbent dose) were investigated. AG-CMC-Agnp composite shows the highest adsorption capacity with 10.95 ± 0.47 and 8.95 ± 0.54 g g−1, for removal of crude and waste diesel oil from aqueous media, respectively, with excellent recyclability for more than nine cycles. The kinetic studies indicate that diesel oil diffused into the internal layers of AG-CMC Agnp and can be fitted to a pseudo- first order (PFORE) model. Furthermore, isotherm studies were discussed using the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models. The result showed that adsorption of diesel oil onto AG-CMC-Agnp could be best fitted with the Langmuir model with a maximum monolayer capacity of 12.26 and 11.04 (exp. 10.95 and 8.95) mg g−1, respectively. The spectral {Infrared (IR), UV–vis and X-Ray powder diffraction (XRD)}, and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) of AG-CMC-Agnp composite indicated that, upon adsorption, oil molecules are covering the pores on the surface.

Integrated use of chemical and geophysical monitoring to study the diesel oil biodegradation in microcosms with different operative conditions

This study aimed to monitor the aerobic bioremediation of diesel oil-contaminated soil by measuring: a) the CO2 production; 2) the fluorescein production; 3) the residual diesel oil concentration. Moreover, the complex dielectric permittivity was monitored through an open-ended coaxial cable. Several microcosms were prepared, changing the water content (u% = 8–15% by weight), the carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N = 20–450), and the soil amount (200 and 800 g of dry soil). The cumulative CO2 and fluorescein production showed similar trends, but different values since these two parameters reflect different features of the biological process occurring within each microcosm. The diesel oil removal efficiency depended on the microcosm characteristics. After 84 days, in the microcosms with 200 g of dry soil, the highest removal efficiency was achieved with a water content of 8% by weight and C/N = 120, while in the microcosms with 800 g of dry soil the best result was achieved with the water content equal to 12% by weight and C/N = 100. In the tested soil, the bioremediation process is efficient if the water content is in the range 8–12% by weight, and C/N is in the range 100–180; under these operative conditions, the diesel oil removal efficiency was about 65–70% after 84 days. The dielectric permittivity was monitored in microcosms with 200 g of dry soil. The open-ended coaxial cable detected significant variations of both the real and the imaginary component of the dielectric permittivity during the bioremediation process, due to the physical and chemical changes that occurred within the microcosms.

Micro-bubbles enhanced removal of diesel oil from the contaminated soil in washing/flushing with surfactant and additives

Diesel removal of contaminated soil by washing/flushing was enhanced with micro-bubbles and selected surfactants based on their solubilization properties and decontamination capacities. The influencing factors were studied to aim for increasing washing/flushing efficacy. The mixture solution of saponin and cyclodextrin increased the removal efficiency significantly compared to the single-agent solution flushing with an increasing range of 20%–31%. Meanwhile, micro-bubble enhancement increased over 20% of the diesel removal for the sandy soil flushing. As the flushing process may cause soil eroded, the TDS and soil solute in flushing solution were measured to evaluate the circulation time. The 90 min flushing time ensured the cleaning goal and reserved the soil solute by circulation flushing. The soil solute, especially the electron acceptor (NO3-) , was remained in the soil, which was highly demanded for residual diesel biodegradation of loam soil. It is concluded that mixed agents, circulation of flushing solution, and micro-bubbles increased the diesel removal, and the circulation flushing could be very promising in practical applications.

Application of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to aerobic biodegradation process

The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is a method widely used to process experimental data. The PCA aims to reduce the dimensionality of a data set composed of many interrelated variables, preserving the variation as much as possible. This can be achieved by transforming the data set to a new one, containing the principal components (PCs), which are uncorrelated, and which maximize the variance of the original data. In this study, the PCA was applied to experimental tests on aerobic bioremediation of soil polluted with diesel oil. Twelve microcosms (200 g of soil) were prepared, polluted with commercial diesel oil (70 g/kg of dry soil), and hydrated with a mineral salt solution suitable to stimulate the indigenous bacteria. The aerobic process for diesel oil degradation was studied changing two operative parameters, namely, water content (u%) and carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N). Three values of water content (u% = 8%, 12% and 15% by weight) and four of carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N = 60, 120, 180 and 300) were tested. The microcosms were monitored for 30 days by the measurements of these parameters: 1) the CO2 production, to evaluate the microbial respiration, 2) the fluorescein production, to check the microbial activity, and 3) the diesel oil concentration, to assess the pollutant degradation and calculate the removal efficiency. The Principal Component Analysis was done considering the water content values as variables and the carbon to nitrogen ones as systems to be analyzed. By a linear transformation, two principal components were achieved, namely PC1 and PC2. There sults for the CO2 production, fluorescein production, and diesel oil removal efficiency were used, and overall variances always over 94% were obtained. The results showed that two microcosms stood out from the others, namely:-the microcosm with u% = 12% b.w. and C/N = 180,sinceit gave the highest amount of CO2 and fluorescein;- the microcosm with u% = 8% b.w. and C/N = 120,due to the highest diesel oil removal efficiency.

Treatment of Iraqi Petroleum Refinery Wastewater by Advanced Oxidation Processes

Iraq is facing a major environmental crisis due to oil-spills which polluted the Tigris River and caused many problems in the environment depending on the volume of the oil spilled. Therefore these problems need emergency solutions and one of the solutions is treatment using Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs). In this research the degradation of acidic aqueous solutions of the synthetic diesel oil water emulsion has been studied by advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) using Fenton reagent (Fe2+/H2O2). The effect of different process parameters, such as pH, oxidant’s dose (FeSO4/H2O2) and the reaction times on the removal of diesel oil were investigated in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD). At an optimum concentration optimum of [H2O2] = 11×10−2 M; [Fe2+] = 7.4×10−3 M, pH=3.5 and reaction time 60 min reduced COD 65% of diesel oil at [Diesel Oil] = 1300 ± 23 mg O2/L. The real oily wastewater was collected from Baghdad south gas power plant-2 and its composition is unknown. The treatment of this wastewater by Fenton oxidations under optimal conditions were removed 86% of the initial COD and 97 % of total petroleum hydrocarbons TPH of the oily wastewater.

Optimization of aeration enhanced surfactant soil washing for remediation of diesel-contaminated soils using response surface methodology.

Surfactant-enhanced soil washing has been used for remediation of organic pollutants for an extended period, but its effectiveness and wide application was limited by the high concentration of surfactants utilized. In this work, the efficiency of conventional soil washing performance was enhanced by 12–25% through the incorporation of air bubbles into the low concentration surfactant soil washing system. Surfactant selection pre-experiment using aerated and conventional soil washing reveals Brij 35 > TX100 > Tween 80 > Saponin in diesel oil removal. Optimization of the effect of time, surfactant concentration, pH, agitation speed, and airflow rate in five levels were undertaken using Response Surface Methodology and Central composite design. The optimum degree of variables achieved was 90 min of washing time, 370 mg/l of concentration, washing pH of 10,535 rpm of agitation speed and 7.2 l/min of airflow rate with 79.5% diesel removal. The high predicted R2 value of 0.9517 showed that the model could efficiently be used to predict diesel removal efficiency. The variation in efficiency of aeration assisted and conventional soil washing was variable depending on the type of surfactant, organic matter content of the soil, particle size distribution and level of pollutant weathering. The difference in removal efficiency of the two methods increases when the level of organic matter increases and when the particle size and age of contamination decreases.

Kinetics and Optimization by Response Surface Methodology of Aerobic Bioremediation. Geoelectrical Parameter Monitoring

This study aimed to investigate the kinetics of an aerobic bioremediation process of diesel oil removal by indigenous microorganisms, and to define the optimal operative conditions by means of response surface methodology. This was carried out by setting up a series of microcosms (200 g of soil), polluted with the same diesel oil concentration (70 g·kg−1 of soil), but with different water contents (u%) and carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratios. The process was monitored by: (1) residual diesel oil concentration, to measure the removal efficiency, and (2) fluorescein production, to check the microbial activity. These two parameters were the objective variables used for the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and response surface methodology (RSM). The results allowed the interactions between u% and C/N to be defined and the optimal range to be adopted for each. The process kinetics was modeled with first- and second-order reaction rates; slightly better results were achieved for the second-order model in terms of parameter variability. Biological processes like degradation may have effects on dielectric properties of soil; an open-ended coaxial cable was used to measure the dielectric permittivity of microcosm matrices at the start and after 130 days of bioremediation. The evolution of the real and the imaginary components of dielectric permittivity provided results that supported the evidence of a biodegradation process in progress.

Enhanced Degradation of Diesel Oil by Using Biofilms Formed by Indigenous Purple Photosynthetic Bacteria from Oil-Contaminated Coasts of Vietnam on Different Carriers.

Oil pollution in marine environment caused by oil spillage has been a main threat to the ecosystem including the ocean life and to the human being. In this research, three indigenous purple photosynthetic strains Rhodopseudomonas sp. DD4, DQ41, and FO2 were isolated from oil-contaminated coastal zones in Vietnam. The cells of these strains were immobilized on different carriers including cinder beads (CB), coconut fiber (CF), and polyurethane foam (PUF) for diesel oil removal from artificial seawater. The mixed biofilm formed by using CB, CF, and PUF as immobilization supports degraded 90, 91, and 95% of diesel oil (DO) with the initial concentration of 17.2g/L, respectively, after 14days of incubation. The adsorption of DO on different systems was accountable for the removal of 12-16% hydrocarbons for different carriers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on diesel oil degradation by purple photosynthetic bacterial biofilms on different carriers. Moreover, using carriers attaching purple photosynthetic bacteria to remove diesel oil in large scale is considered as an essential method for the improvement of a cost-effective and efficient bioremediation manner. This study can be a promising approach to eliminate DO from oil-contaminated seawater.

Removal of Diesel Oil in Soil Microcosms and Implication for Geophysical Monitoring

Bioremediation of soils polluted with diesel oil is one of the methods already applied on a large scale. However, several questions remain open surrounding the operative conditions and biological strategies to be adopted to optimize the removal efficiency. This study aimed to investigate the environmental factors that influence geophysical properties in soil polluted with diesel oils, in particular, during the biodegradation of this contaminant by an indigenous microbial population. With this aim, aerobic degradation was performed in soil column microcosms with a high concentration of diesel oil (75 g kg−1 of soil); the dielectric permittivity and electrical conductivity were measured. In one of the microcosms, the addition of glucose was also tested. Biostimulation was performed with a Mineral Salt Medium for Bacteria. The sensitivity of the dielectric permittivity versus temperature was analyzed. A theoretical approach was adopted to estimate the changes in the bulk dielectric permittivity of a mixture of sandy soil-water-oil-gas, according to the variations in the oil content. The sensitivity of the dielectric permittivity to the temperature effects was analyzed. The results show that (1) biostimulation can give good removal efficiency; (2) the addition of glucose as a primary carbon source does not improve the diesel oil removal; (3) a limited amount of diesel oil was removed by adsorption and volatilization effects; and (4) the diesel oil efficiency removal was in the order of 70% after 200 days, with different removal percentages for oil components; the best results were obtained for molecules with a low retention time. This study is preparatory to the adoption of geophysical methods to monitor the biological process on a larger scale. Altogether, these results will be useful to apply the process on a larger scale, where geophysical methods will be adopted for monitoring.

Potential of surfactant foam stabilized by Ethylene glycol and Allyl alcohol for the remediation of diesel contaminated soil

Abstract Refined petroleum products like diesel oil enters the soil as a result of damaged pipelines and storage tanks. This constitutes a major hazard for the environment as it leads to problems associated with soil contamination. The application and impact of surfactant foam, stabilized by the use of biodegradable additives — Ethylene glycol and Allyl alcohol, for treating diesel contaminated soil is a novel concept and has not been reported so far. The aim of the current work was thus to check the diesel contaminated soil remediation potential with the usage of surfactant foam, stabilized by Ethylene glycol and Allyl alcohol. To better understand the foam properties, experiments were performed by mixing the appropriate quantities of additives and two popular surfactants — Sodium n-dodecyl sulfate (SDS), Tween 80, using Dynamic Foam Analyzer (Kruss, Germany). The stable foams produced were then utilized to treat the diesel contaminated soil and interesting results were obtained. The foam stabilized by surfactant SDS in combination with 0.3 weight% Allyl alcohol showed maximum diesel oil removal efficiency of 62%. Also, surfactant Tween 80 with 0.3 weight% of Allyl alcohol produced the most stable foam with a half-life of 18 mins and resulted in maximum diesel removal efficiency of 71%. SDS, Tween 80 foams stabilized by 0.3 weight% Ethylene glycol however produced much lower diesel removal efficiency. The mechanism of surfactant adsorption onto soil was studied. The surface tension analysis, using the different additives — Ethylene glycol, Allyl alcohol with the surfactant solutions, were performed to check on the mobilization of diesel oil from the soil.

Hydrophobic and Oleophilic Filter Paper for Oil/Water Separation

The separation of oil from water is significance for environmental de-pollution application. To obtain selectivity of liquid, filter papers were coated to bear highly hydrophobic and oleophilic functionality that can allow only oils to pass through them. The coating solutions were prepared by mixing poly(methylhydro siloxane, PMHS) and fumed silica at various proportions. To determine an optimum coating condition, properties of the treated filter papers were investigated by measuring water contact angle and surface free energy, examining surface morphology and testing for selective removal of diesel oil from water. The optimum coating solution was at the PMHS:fumed silica weight ratio of 1.25:1.00. The treated filter paper exhibited high hydrophobicity with water contact angle of 142.80 ± 0.36 degrees and surface free energy of 0.78 mJ/m2. In addition, it exhibited high selective removal of diesel oil from water with oil absorption capacity of 2.3 g/g.