Evaluation of indigenous oligotrophic peat as low-cost sorbent for accidental oil spills

Removing of oil spills from solid surfaces, sea, rivers and lakes formed as a result of accidental spillage during transport or storage is of great concern. Such ecological accidents have created a great need to find more efficient and lowcost materials for oil spill cleanup. The methods commonly used to remove oil involve the use of dispersants, skimmers, sorbents etc. The main limitations of some of these techniques are their high cost. Removal of oil by sorption has been observed to be one of the most effective techniques for removal of spilled oil under ambient conditions. In this work, indigenous oligotrophic peat was prepared using several methods and tested (according to ASTM F726-12 Standard Test Method for Sorbent Performance of Adsorbents) as a low cost sorbent in order to determine their potential for oil spill cleanup in terms of adsorption capacity, floatability and leachability. In order to cover the most common oil products causing accidental spills, for this study were used: gas, diesel and motor oil. The peat sample prepared by drying, chopping and sieving had highest adsorption capacities (expressed as g pollutant/g sorbent), depending on the contact time and pollutant properties, of 4.13 – 5.02 for gas, 5.44 - 6.81 for diesel oil and 15.13- 15.17 for motor oil. The adsorption capacity of indigenous peat sample increases along with the viscosity and density of the pollutants as follows: gas<diesel