The Adsorption Potentials of Corn Cob for Oil Spill Clean Up

Abstract

Crude oil has great economic value, but not much have been said or done about oil spill impact to the environment. Its exploration has resulted in serious environmental pollution, ranging from air, water and soil. Oil spill throughpollution has introduced harmful or poisonous substance into the environment, causing adverse effects on living organisms and ecosystem. It is on record that global oil spill is about 400,000 (metric tonnes) taking place per year through various avenues. This problem of immediate need for effective oil spill remediation necessitated this study whereby corn cob, an agro-waste, biodegradable, can be deployed as sorbents for oil spill remediation and as substitutes for synthetic sorbents. The reason isthat inadequate method of immediate remediation for an oil spill has not been explored and most developed sorbents are not meeting up with the required efficacy of oil spill removal. The important contribution of this research to existing knowledge is that agro-waste possess greatadsorbing capabilities and pose no environmental hazard to the environment and can be converted or modified as adsorbent for oil spill clean-up, converting waste to wealth. Similarly, it substantiated the fact that corn cob has well documented capacity for oil sorption and the lack of dimensional stability due to associated hydroxyl functionality was corrected by modification. The adsorbent was subjected to sample preparation by washing, sun dried and crushed to a specific size. It was then oven dried at 350 ^o C and allowed to cool and subjected to FTIR analysis. It was subjected to modification by a reaction with acetic anhydride with sulpuric acid as catalyst. The modified adsorbent was subjected to crude oil recovery efficiency test.  Sample characterization results showed moisture content of 1.600%, ash content of 3.860% and hausner ratio of 1.236. IR result indicated absence of spectra bands at 1740 -1745 cm^-1and 1020 -1040 cm^-1. The result of the oil removal efficiency was subjected to kinetic models.The high value of R²(0.985 for the pseudo second order, PSO and 0.9703 for the intra particle diffusion, IPD) obtained in the adsorption kinetics justifies the potency of corn cob as a sorbent in oil spill remediation. This work is also an indispensable reference and an essential reading for everyone concerned with oil spill cleanup in mangroves and wetlands, providing strategies for the conversion of agricultural wastes to effective oil spill sorbents.