Being cost-effective, synthetic materials were initially used abundantly for the removal of oil. Gradually, however, awareness of the use of dispersants like Corexit, which makes water resources more toxic than oil, has changed the scenario for the treatment of spilled oil. The removal of spilled oil from water resources is still a very topical issue. An eco-friendly and sustainable approach towards the environment has introduced many low-cost, non-toxic and biodegradable materials along with different biomasses to make micro-to nano-sized materials, membranes, sponges/aerogel, etc. for the removal and recovery of oil from water resources. Additionally, the reusability of these materials after the recovery of oils has added one more step towards sustainability. This review comprises the work conducted by various researchers in the field of the removal and recovery of spilled oils using various biomasses and polymers, either in the form of sorbents or separators.
Oil spills are the significant sources of hydrocarbons entering in the receiving aquatic environment. An efficient method to remove hydrocarbons from water resources is adsorption. In this study, water soluble N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan (NO-CS) was synthesized by carboxymethylation of chitosan in a hydro-alcoholic medium at 50°C by chloroacetic acid. The polymer was characterized through degree of deacetylation, degree of substitution, FTIR and H NMR. Effectiveness of NO-CS as an adsorbent was studied as a function of dosage, salinity and pH to destabilize the Marine diesel (Oil-1), Diesel (Oil-2) and Marine-2T oil (Oil-3) into small oil droplets of less than 100μm. Optical microscope was used for studying the size of oil droplets and adsorption effect of the oils on this polymer. The destabilization of marine diesel was the most effective among the studied three oils, which showed excellent adsorption at sea water alkalinity and salinity.
Industrial wastes and their effluents containing dyes and heavy metals are a tremendous threat to the environment, and to treat these toxic waste streams, effective and environmentally benign methods are needed. In this study, NaCS-GL was used as an effective adsorbent, for the removal of dyes and metal ions from their aqueous solution. The presence of carboxylate groups on the NaCS-GL surface has altered the protonation of amino groups. The adsorption kinetics of dyes on NaCS-GL was initially controlled by the film diffusion or chemical reaction after which the intra-particle or pore diffusion started to govern the rate. Leaching of sodium ion confirmed the crosslinking of two carboxylate groups of NaCS-GL with the metal ions. Modeling of the adsorption isotherms revealed that the different active surface sites of NaCS-GL were involved in the adsorption of dyes and metals, suggesting the simultaneous removal of these components from the wastewater.
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