Use of porous materials to remove oil contaminants from water

Adam Gołub; Janina Piekutin

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.238

Use of porous materials to remove oil contaminants from water

Sci Total Environ. 2018 Jun 15:627:723-732. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.238. Epub 2018 Feb 2.

Authors

Adam Gołub¹, Janina Piekutin²

Affiliations

¹ Technical University of Białystok, 45A Wiejska Str., 15-351 Bialystok, Poland. Electronic address: a.golub@doktoranci.pb.edu.pl.
² Technical University of Białystok, 45A Wiejska Str., 15-351 Bialystok, Poland.

PMID: 29426197
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.238

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to remove petroleum substances from water using porous materials. Birch bark, cork, glass wool and polyurethane foam were used for the study. The model solution was distilled water enriched with a mixture of petrol and diesel fuel in a volume ratio of 1:3. The model water used had 3 different concentrations of oil substances. The research included petroleum substances expressed as mineral oil index and aliphatic hydrocarbons, n-alkanes (from C7H16 to C38H78). The process of oil substances removal was carried out applying two methods: static and dynamic. Based on the research, it was found that materials the most effective in lowering the index of mineral oil and C7H16-C38H78 n-alkane concentrations were both birch bark and glass wool, both static and dynamic, while cork and polyurethane foam were less effective. In addition, concentration of C7H16-C38H78 n-alkanes was lowered in each measurement series to a greater extent than the mineral oil index.

Keywords: Alkanes; Dynamic method; Mineral oil index; Petroleum derivatives; Sorbent; Static method.