Crude oil sorption performance of native and acetylated Siamese senna seed pods

Abstract

The recurring problem of oil spillage has directed research to the exploration of various agricultural wastes in order to discover new, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly oil sorbents. This research studied the viability of native and acetylated seed pods of Siamese senna as oil spill mop. SEM, BET, and FTIR analyses were employed to assess the adsorption tendency of the adsorbents for crude oil. Investigation of the oil sorption behaviors of the adsorbents involved batch sorption experiments. The SEM analysis revealed improvements in the surface morphology of the acetylated pods. The BET surface area increased from 265.2 m2/g to 335.0 m2/g after acetylation. The FTIR spectra of the oil-treated pods showed that the acetylated pods adsorbed more oil than the native pods. The Langmuir isotherm best described the sorption equilibrium for the adsorbents. Kinetic analysis showed that the sorption processes conformed to the pseudo-second-order model, and were controlled by film diffusion alone or in conjunction with other mechanisms. The results obtained in this work show that Siamese senna seed pods can be used for crude oil sorption from an aqueous medium. The improved oil sorption capacity of the acetylated pod shows that it has more potential to serve as a low-cost alternative for oil spill remediation than the native seed pod.

Keywords

• Crude oil sorption
• Siamese senna
• Kinetics
• Thermodynamics
• Water treatment