Solid, hydrophobic aggregators and methods of making and using the same
AssigneeBattelle Memorial Institute
InventorsYongsoon Shin, George T. Bonheyo, Eric M. Winder
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are aggregators that can be cellulosic particles having high oil sorption capacity, high hydrophobicity, high buoyancy in water, and an aggregation quality that can support environmental remediation of hydrocarbon spills (e.g., crude oil spills) by various cleanup strategies including burning, skimming, or bioremediation. Also disclosed are methods of making the materials and methods of using the materials for environmental remediation
Claims22
A method of environmental remediation comprising:
- dispersing a quantity of particulate aggregators at a surface region of an aqueous environment in which a liquid hydrocarbon has been spilled, wherein the solid aggregators comprises water-buoyant, cellulosic particles having a hydrophobic surface modified by oleic acid and further modified by one or more additional fatty acids, the hydrophobic surface comprising C18 alkyl chains and at least one other type of alkyl chain having a chain length different than C18;
- adsorbing the liquid hydrocarbon to the solid aggregators;
- and
- aggregating a floating mass at the surface of the aqueous environment, the mass comprising the solid aggregator having the liquid hydrocarbon adsorbed thereto.
A method comprising
- Modifying a native surface of a cellulosic particle with oleic acid to yield a first modified surface comprising C18 alkyl chains;
- Modifying the first modified surface with a fatty acid having a second alkyl chain length different than C18 to yield a hydrophobic second modified surface comprising C18 alkyl chains and alkyl chains having the second alkyl chain length.
A hydrocarbon-remediation aggregator comprising a water-buoyant, wood particle having a hydrophobic surface that comprises C18 alkyl chains and at least one other type of alkyl chain having a chain length different than C18, and wherein the aggregator has a crystallinity index less than or equal to 3% and a hydrocarbon sorption capacity of at least 5 g of hydrocarbon per gram of aggregator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.