| Abstract | Five natural organic sorbents, rice husk, rice straw coconut husk, coconut fiber sheet, coconut fiber (loose form) and one synthetic polymer, polyurethane foam, were evaluated for their sorption effectiveness. Three types of petroleum products, diesel oil, crude oil and light fuel oil were used. Among the natural organic sorbents, coconut husk was the most efficient sorbent especially with a high oil/water sorption capacity ratio, followed by rice straw and coconut fiber sheet.
However, polyurethane foam was a better sorbent than any of the natural materials tested.
Effect of slick thickness and sorption time were evaluated and relationships between important variables of amount of sorbent, thickness of slick, surface area of slick, viscosity and surface tension of oil involved in sorption process were also established by dimensional analysis . A correlation between these variables were found to exist. |
