Thermally treated rice husks for petroleum adsorption

Abstract

Rice husks, an agricultural waste, were thermally treated and evaluated as an adsorbent for petroleum with the goal of being used as a remediation strategy for petroleum spills of petroleum based products. The petroleum sorption capacity was examined of thermally-treated, carbonized rice husks which are mainly composed of silicates. Results showed that the petroleum sorption capacities of the carbonized rice husks prepared at 700ºC is 15,2 g/g for heavy crude petroleum. The effects of heating temperature, contact time and petroleum density on the petroleum sorption capacity of carbonized rice husks were investigated. The phase composition, microstructure and morphology of the carbonized rice husks were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis, FTIR spectrometry and Scanning Election Microscope (SEM).