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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