Treatment of oil spill by sorption technique using fatty acid grafted sawdust

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 64; no. 6; pp. 1026 - 1031
• Main Authors: Banerjee, Shashwat S., Joshi, Milind V., Jayaram, Radha V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adsorption; Applied sciences; Crude oil; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Exact sciences and technology; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids - chemistry; Fossil Fuels; Natural water pollution; Oils; Pollution; Pollution, environment geology; Sawdust; Seawaters, estuaries; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Vegetable oils; Water treatment and pollution; Wood; Vegetable oils; Sawdust; Crude oil; Fatty acids; Oil spill; Liquid solid adsorption; In situ; Vegetable oil; Material weathering; Wood waste; Surface treatment; Vegetal waste; Persistent organic pollutant; Industrial waste; Decontamination; Upgrading; Waste reuse; Water pollution; Adsorbent; Organic compounds; Seawater; Modified material
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.065

Treatment of oil spills remains a challenge to environmental scientists and technologists. Among all the existing techniques used for oil treatment, sorption is a popular technique because it is cheap, simple and effective. Among the various sorbents used, sawdust appears to be the most attractive material in terms of cost, versatility and abundance. In the present work, the efficacy of surface modification of sawdust by fatty acids (oleic acid, stearic acid and decanoic acid) and vegetable oils (castor oil or mustard oil) is demonstrated. Sorption of seawater contaminated with crude oil and also weathered oil was greatly enhanced by the surface modification. The results show that oleic acid grafted sawdust (OGSD) has the best sorption capacity for crude oil as well as weathered oil.