Please cite this article as: J.O. Nwadiogbu, V.I.E. Ajiwe, P.A.C. Okoye, Removal of crude oil from aqueous medium by sorption on hydrophobic corncobs: Equilibrium and kinetic studies, Journal of Taibah University for Science (2015), http://dx. AbstractCrude oil released to the marine environment through accidental spillage or drainage from land causes serious damage to the environment and marine life. Treatment of oil spill remains a challenge to environmental scientists and technologists. Sorption is one of the popular techniques in oil spill cleanup operations. In this paper, corn cob an abundant, biodegradable agricultural waste was treated with acetic anhydride to increase its hydrophobic properties, thereby improving sorption effectiveness in aqueous environments. The crude oil absorption behavior has been discussed and kinetic models used suggest surface reaction and intra-particle diffusion mechanism for the sorption process. The equilibrium isotherm data were analyzed with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Langmuir isotherm provided the best fit to the experimental data as provided by values of regression coefficient. The maximum monolayer sorption capacities were 0.0768mg/g and 0.0043mg/g for Acetylated and raw corn cob respectively. The results presented and discussed in this work pointed out that Page 2 of 28 A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 2 acetylated corn cob are suitable sorbents with potentials for further development for oil spill treatment.

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Borehole water has been the main source of drinking water for the communities living within the Nnewi metropolis. The quality of this borehole water has been significantly affected by the presence of unlined waste dumpsites which release leachates. The present study investigated the physicochemical characteristics and quality of borehole water located around the environment of the unlined dumpsite in Nnewi. In this study, thirty-two (32) borehole water samples were collected from around the dumpsite (16) and control (16) areas in wet and dry seasons. The levels of the physicochemical parameters were determined using the American Public Health Association (APHA) standard methods. The quality of the borehole water was compared with World Health Organization (WHO) permissible drinking water limits. The pollution index (PI) and water quality index (WQI) of the borehole water were also evaluated. The results also showed that only the nitrite values in the dumpsite area for both seasons were above the WHO drinking water limits. The summation of the pollution indices were above the critical value of 1 in both seasons for the study areas. The WQI revealed that the water samples were heavily polluted with the most polluted being the dumpsite area in both seasons. The results revealed that the underground water in the dumpsite area was contaminated through the uncontrolled release of leachates from dumpsite. The contamination from the control area may not be related to the dumpsite but was linked to irregular waste disposal sites, wastewater infiltration and run-off from farmlands. The borehole water samples was not good for drinking and domestic purposes without proper treatment.