Asam Gelugur-based Carbon Aerogels for Highly Recyclable Oil Adsorption

Abstract

Rapid development of the oil industries and improper oil management caused a huge amount of oil pollutant released into the water environment. Oil pollutant is toxic and may harm aquatic biodiversity. The present work highlights the facile preparation of carbon aerogels based from Asam Gelugur (CA@Ga) for oil remediation from aqueous. Analysis on the structure of CA@Ga using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), confirmed the successful preparation of CA@Ga through hydrothermal carbonization. The main parameters affecting the adsorption of oil such as the sorption time, pH and mass of sorbent were screened and oil adsorption studies revealed that the optimum conditions were at contact time of 3 minutes, pH of solution at 7 and the adsorbent mass of 2 g with the highest adsorption capacity of 0.82 + 0.01 g/g. CA@Ga displayed a good stability towards thermal treatment and exhibited good adsorption ability towards several types of oil. Recyclability study depicts that CA@Ga could be regenerated by simple physical treatments and retained a high sorption after 10 cycles with adsorption capacity of 0.80 + 0.01 g/g. Therefore, the prepared CA@Ga has potential in application of oil recovery and environmental protection.