Carbon Sorbents are Key to Fighting Against Oil Pollution

Research of sorbents is a direction to which young scientists of the Institute of Chemical, Oil and Gas Technologies pay much attention from year to year. The relevance of the work is connected with unfavorable statistics of oil pollution in the modern world. A universal and effective sorbent for oil spills utilization will help companies and governmental authorities to cope with water pollution. The creation of such a sorbent is the goal of Elizaveta Manokhina's research project.

Elizaveta Manokhina, a second-year student of the Institute of Chemical, Oil and Gas Technologies, "calculated" the sorption capacity. She used carbon sorbent in her research. And also four types of petroleum products – diesel fuel, machine oil, gasoline AI-92 and AI-95. The carbon sorbent was developed at the Department of Solid Fuel Chemical Technology on the basis of excess activated sludge and carbon-containing waste.

The results of the experiments showed that the sorption capacity of the sorbent decreases with increasing density of the petroleum product. Sorbent absorbed diesel fuel best of all (density 735 kg/), and worst of all it absorbed Lukoil motor oil (910 kg/). In the near future Elizaveta plans to modify the structure and chemical composition of the sorbent to increase its sorption capacity.

The student's project won the 3rd place in the "Beginner Researcher" nomination of the "Best Student Innovations" contest of the Student Scientific Session competition.