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Jerry M. Brownstein
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Adsorption of Motor Oil/Diesel Fuel Mixture from Water

Introduction - One proposed use for X-TEX media is as a sorbent for use in the removal of petroleum hydrocarbons from water after accidental spills or releases. To better determine the value of X-TEX as a media for this use a quantitative testing procedure was designed.

Method - X-TEX and a highly rated competing sorbent material (granulated reactive polymer) were tested to determine the uptake of a motor oil/diesel fuel mix from water. Precleaned sample containers were filled with 200 ml of water and 10 grams of motor oil/diesel fuel mix. A preweighed sample of sorbent was added to each container and allowed to sorb. The sorbent was then removed and the contents of each jar were analyzed to determine the weight of motor oil or diesel fuel remaining. The graph below illustrates the results.

Conclusions - Addition of 0.5 grams of X-TEX  sorbent material removes more than 96% of the oil/fuel mix. The competing product requires 8.0 grams to achieve the same uptake of oil/fuel mix. With the addition of 0.25 grams the X-TEX material reaches saturation, but removes more than 32 times its weight of the petroleum. The saturation point for the competing product occurs at approximately 3.6 times its own weight in oil. 
Other differences were observed in the experiment as well. The X-TEX sorbent adsorbed the oil almost immediately on contact, while the “reactive polymer” sorbent required several minutes to equilibrate before its maximum saturation was reached. When small amounts of the competing material were added, removal of the saturated material was difficult because the material did not clump or mat together. The X-TEX sorbent was cohesive and removed the fuel/oil mix with little difficulty.