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Adsorption of soluble oil from water to graphene

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Abstract

The toxicity of soluble oil to the aquatic environment has started to attract wide attention in recent years. In the present work, we prepare graphene according to oxidation and thermal reduction methods for the removal of soluble oil from the solution. Characterization of the as-prepared graphene are performed by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectra, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and contact angle analysis. The adsorption behavior of soluble oil on graphene is examined, and the obtained adsorption data are modeled using conventional theoretical models. Adsorption experiments reveal that the adsorption rate of soluble oil on graphene is notably fast, especially for the soluble diesel oil, which could reach equilibrium within 30 min, and the kinetics of adsorption is perfectly consistent with a pseudo-second-order model. Furthermore, it is determined that the adsorption isotherm of soluble diesel oil with graphene fit the Freundlich model best, and graphene has a very strong adsorption capacity for soluble diesel oil in the solution. These results demonstrate that graphene is the material that provided both good adsorptive capacity and good kinetics, implying that it could be used as a promising sorbent for soluble oil removal from wastewater.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financial support of this research from Tianjin Program of Science and Technology for Ocean Promotion (Grant No. KJXH2011-10).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, People’s Republic of China

    Na Wang, Yuchang Zhang, Shuaishuai Liu & Ping Na

  2. TEDA Landoo Oilfield Service Co., Ltd., Tianjin, 300457, People’s Republic of China

    Fuzhen Zhu & Jingyi Li

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  1. Na Wang
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  2. Yuchang Zhang
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  3. Fuzhen Zhu
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  4. Jingyi Li
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  5. Shuaishuai Liu
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Correspondence to Ping Na.

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Wang, N., Zhang, Y., Zhu, F. et al. Adsorption of soluble oil from water to graphene. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 6495–6505 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2504-9

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