Preparation Biomagnetic Sorbent for Cleaning Crude Oil Spills

Abstract

The objective of this study is preparing a novel environmental friendly light weight magnetic sorbent consisting of bacteria and cobalt by chemical process to further cleaning crude oil spills in sea. The observations by ESEM indicated that a thin granular layer covered on the surface of model microorganism of Staphylococcus epidermildis which provided host for absorbing cobalt ions and depositing cobalt particulates. The results showed that composite present flower-like microspheres with large-scale yields. The high temperature treatment of amorphous bacteria composited cobalt microspheres showed that it well crystallized corresponding to Co3O4 at 800 °C. The microorganism composited magnetic sorbent opens an important alternation absorbent for timely oil spill cleanup.