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BACKGROUND: This work presents a novel approach to the understanding of electrostatic phenomena and sorbate-sorbent interactions in oil sorption. The study focuses on sorption of sunflower oil onto regranulated cork granules as promising natural sorbents. RESULTS: It was shown that lowering the pH caused neutralization of negative surface charge by the positive hydrogen ions, leading to a reduction in the negative value of -potential, and further destabilization of the emulsion, and an increase in oil and grease (O&G) uptake by cork granules. The effect of ionic strength was studied using a 3-level, 2-factor (3 2 ) full factorial design with O&G removal efficiency as the response variable. Linear effects of NaCl concentration, pH, and their interaction were found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). Higher salt concentrations enhanced O&G removal due to double layer compression. Kinetic and equilibrium studies showed that the sorption process could be well described by a mechanism of partitioning governed by the external film fluid resistance. CONCLUSION: In the conditions of 0.2 mol L −1 NaCl and pH 6, a mass transfer model adequately predicted oil removal of emulsions with approximately 140 mg L −1 O&G to values below discharge limits using 1.6 g L −1 of cork granules. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Production of a stable oil-in-water emulsionAlthough many emulsification methods are available, by far the most common is mechanical shear. Under violent mixing action, several rupturing mechanisms are bound to occur which decrease

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