Aquatic oil spill cleanup using natural sorbents

Paulauskienė, Tatjana; Jucikė, Indrė

Aquatic oil spill cleanup using natural sorbents

2015

Paulauskienė, Tatjana | Jucikė, Indrė

One of the most popular transportation methods of crude oil is water transport, leading to potential spills of these pollutants in the seas and oceans and water areas of ports, during their extraction, transportation, transhipment and use. The growth of the Lithuanian economy and the expansion of competitiveness were hardly imagined without the development of the Klaipeda seaport. However, the intensity of shipping and the increase in cargo loading volumes at specialised terminals are associated with a higher risk of environmental pollution. To achieve a sustainable development of the seaport, it is necessary not only to ensure the prevention of potential water pollution but also, if necessary, to use environmentally friendly technology for pollution management. The work analyses the possibilities related to the collection of oil products from the water surface using natural sorbents (peat, wool, moss and straw) and their composites.The research of absorbed amount of crude oil and diesel fuel spilled on the water surface, while using sorbents and their composites, determined that sorbents’ composite straw-peat (composition percentage of straw-peat 25–75 %) absorbs the major amount of both crude oil (60 % of the spilled volume) and diesel fuel (69 % of the spilled volume) comparing to single sorbents and sorbents’ composite straw-peat (composition percentage of straw-peat 50–50 %).

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