Characterization of Sansevieria Liberica & Urena Lobata Fibers as Potential Sorbent Materials for Crude Oil Clean Up

ABSTRACT

Crude oil spillage has caused untold hardships to many communities. Cheap and effective treatment of these oil spills remains a challenge to environmentalists. The use of plant sorbent materials for cleanup has gained popularity as it is relatively cheap and renewable. Preliminary investigation into the efficacy of two plants; Sansevieria liberica and Urena lobata commonly found in Nigeria as oil sorbent materials were investigated. Parts of these plants have been utilized primarily as traditional herbal medicines and household decorations. The lignin content of these plants were determined. Sansevieria liberica had a lignin content of 12.46%, while Urena lobata had 8.93% as lignin content.The raw plant samples were treated with sodium hydroxide to remove lignin present in the fibers and a reduction in lignin content was observed for both fibers. The plants were bleached with sodium hypochlorite and then acetylated to induce hydrophobicity. X-Ray diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Thermogravimetric analysis, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy were carried out on the fibers after acetylation. Sorption experiments revealed that Urena lobata acetylated at 70°C had sorption capacity of 210% while Sansevieria liberica, acetylated at 120°C had sorption capacity of 359% after 15 minutes.

抽象

原油泄漏给许多社区造成了难以言表的困难. 对于环保人士来说，廉价而有效的处理这些石油泄漏仍然是一个挑战. 使用植物吸附材料进行清洁已经得到了广泛的欢迎，因为它是相对便宜和可再生的. 对尼日利亚常见的两种植物三叶草（sansevierialiberica）和乌贼草（urenalobata）作为吸油材料的效能进行了初步研究. 这些植物的一部分主要被用作传统草药和家庭装饰品. 测定了这些植物的木质素含量. 用氢氧化钠处理原植物样品，以除去纤维中的木质素，两种纤维的木质素含量都有所降低. 三叶草的木质素含量为12.46%，而三叶草的木质素含量为8.93%. 这些植物用次氯酸钠漂白，然后乙酰化以诱导疏水性. 对乙酰化后的纤维进行了X射线衍射、扫描电镜、热重分析和红外光谱分析. 吸附实验表明，70℃乙酰化的Urenalobata在15分钟后的吸附量为210%，而在120℃乙酰化的Sansevierialiberica的吸附量为359%.

KEYWORDS:

• Fibers
• crude oil sorption
• acetylation
• cellulose
• delignification
• bleaching
• sorbent materials

关键词:

• 纤维
• 原油吸附
• 乙酰化
• 纤维素
• 脱木素, 漂白
• 吸附材料

Author contributions

OOF, UJO, OBA, and JTB designed the research work and methodology, JA, EW, TYO, SIA, EAA, and OHO carried out various aspects of work ranging from laboratory work to analysis of samples. MTZM arranged and conducted FESEM and XRD analysis of the samples. OOF and UJO wrote majority of the manuscript. All authors participated in the interpretation of results and writing and proof reading of this research article. All authors have given their consent for the publication of this manuscript.

Acknowledgments

Authors are grateful to Mr. Gala Umar of the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology, Zaria for his assistance in gathering and identifying the plants utilized in this work.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not Applicable

Consent for publication

Not Applicable

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files]

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

This work is funded by the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology, Zaria. A parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Nigeria