Oil spills removal from seawater surface by magnetic biochar composite derived from Heglig tree bark and cobalt ferrite
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the possibility of using magnetic biochar composite (MBCC) derived from Heglig tree bark (HTB) powder (agricultural solid waste) and cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4, CFO) for oil spill removal from seawater surface.
Design/methodology/approach
One-pot co-precipitation route was used to synthesize MBCC. The prepared materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The densities of the prepared materials were also estimated. Crude, diesel engine and gasoline engine oils were used as seawater pollutant models. The gravimetric oil removal (GOR) method was used for removing oil spills from seawater using MBCC as a sorbent material.
Findings
The obtained results revealed that the prepared materials (CFO and MBCC) were able to remove the crude oil and its derivatives from the seawater surface. Besides, when the absorbent amount was 0.01 g, the highest GOR values for crude oil (31.96 ± 1.02 g/g) and diesel engine oil (14.83 ± 0.83 g/g) were obtained using MBCC as an absorbent. For gasoline engine oil, the highest GOR (27.84 ± 0.46 g/g) was attained when CFO was used as an absorbent.
Originality/value
Oil spill removal using MBCC derived from cobalt ferrite and HTB. Using tree bark as biomass (eco-friendly, readily available and low-cost) for magnetic biochar preparation also is a promising method for minimizing agricultural solid wastes (e.g. HTB) and obtaining value-added-products.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Chemistry Department at Sebha University in Sebha, Libya, for providing the necessary facilities for this research. The authors would like to thank Professor Shanwen Tao from University of Warwick, Coventry, UK for SEM-EDS analysis. The authors also wish to thank the Criminal Investigation Department, Sebha City Branch for providing the FTIR instrument.
Conflict of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Citation
Amar, I.A., Alzarouq, A., Mohammed, W., Zhang, M. and Matroed, N. (2023), "Oil spills removal from seawater surface by magnetic biochar composite derived from Heglig tree bark and cobalt ferrite", World Journal of Engineering, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJE-11-2022-0459
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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