Absorption studies of some agricultural solid wastes as biosorbent for the clean-up of oil spill

Abstract

Oil spills are a major environmental threat, causing ecological, economic, and health issues. Traditional cleanup methods like chemical dispersants, in-situ burning, and synthetic sorbents have drawbacks such as secondary pollution and high costs. This study investigates the use of agricultural solid wastes—pineapple leaves, pineapple peels, and oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB)—as biosorbents for oil spill cleanup. The biosorbents were evaluated for their oil sorption capacities under different temperatures and contact times. The oil sorption capacity for the milled samples at 25 °C showed that the standard synthetic sorbent had the highest capacity, reaching 14.08 g/g, while pineapple leaves had a peak capacity of 7.92 g/g at 3 minutes before stabilizing around 5.5 - 6.0 g/g. Pineapple peel and OPEFB exhibited lower capacities of 1.30 g/g and 2.66 g/g, respectively. At 30 °C, the standard sorbent again had the highest capacity at 14.73 g/g, with pineapple leaves reaching 8.13 g/g, OPEFB at 3.02 g/g, and pineapple peels at 1.96 g/g. The reusability and recovery efficiency of these materials were also assessed, with pineapple leaves showing high reusability (90 ± 0.01%) and recovery efficiency (90 ± 1.35%) at 25°C. The study demonstrates the potential of pineapple leaves as a viable biosorbent for oil spill remediation, given their relatively high and consistent oil sorption capacity and reusability. Pineapple peel and OPEFB, while less effective, could be considered for low-cost or supplementary adsorption materials. Further research is recommended to optimize these biosorbents and explore their practical applications in varying environmental conditions.