Desorption of Crude Oil from Contaminated Sand using Surfactants

Abstract

Oil spill is a form of pollution that involves the release of oil into the environment. Oil forms an exterior coating on sand particles and due to its hydrophobicity, it is not washed away easily. It remains in soil matrix for a long time. This oil coating can be removed by different methods which include Shoreline flushing, solvent washing, booms, vacuum desorption, sorbents, biodegradable agents, microbial agents, bio-surfactants, incineration and mechanical removal. Desorption of the oil from the oil-sand-water mixture can be done using surfactants. Our basic aim is to remove crude from the contaminated sand which we came across different methods such as excavation, incineration, thermal desorption, composting, land farming and soil washing. We found that soil washing technique was easier compared to any other techniques based on their availability. The desorption of crude oil was done using anionic surfactant (SDS) and natural surfactant (Reetha). Based on this, different adsorption isotherms were applied and kinetics of desorption were studied.