Jornal de Biorremediação e Biodegradação

Abstrato

The Potential of Luffa cylindrica for Crude Oil Adsorption from Water: Kinetic, Equilibrium and Thermodynamic Study

Shittu TD, Aransiola EF, Alabi-Babalola OD

The efficiency of Luffacy lindrica for crude oil removal is reported. Adsorption parameters used were initial oil concentration (5-8 g/l), Luffa weights (0.5-2.5 g), contact time (15-105 sec), and temperature (20-50°C). The FTIR and SEM results showed that the surface properties of the Luffa are suitable for crude oil adsorption. The optimum crude oil removed was obtained at 20°C, reaching 82 % at the weight of 2.0 g and the lowest value was at 50°C, reaching a lowest value of 13 % at the weight of 0.5 g. The experimental results agreed with the isotherm of Langmuir and the Pseudo-second order was the best kinetics model. The diffusion mechanism study supports both liquid film and intra-particle diffusions during the adsorption. The time dependent of the process showed an immediate rapid crude oil uptake. The exothermic propensity of the process was confirmed from thermodynamic parameters evaluated. A ∆H○ (-83.673 KJ/mol) was obtained and the ∆G○ values was negative at the temperature of 20°C (-3.754 KJ/mol) and at 50°C, the value increased to 3.754 KJ/mol, suggesting that the process is not feasible at elevated temperature.