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Research Paper :
Effectiveness Of Biowaste In Cleaning Up The Oil Spill

By

Tan Khye Fang

Sambegi A/P Somasegaran
Saras Wathy A/P S Neelamagan

From

S.M.K Dato’ Onn Butterworth

Teacher Advisor:

Madam Veena Kumari

On

March 2011
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CONTENT
Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction .............................................................................................................. 4 - 6

Purpose ……………………………………………………………………………. 7

Experiment design ………………………………………………………………… 8

Materials and Apparatus .......................................................................................... 9 - 12

Methods ................................................................................................................... 13

Results .................................................................................................................... 14 - 16

Discussion ............................................................................................................. 17 - 18

Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 19

Acknowledgement ................................................................................................. 20

References .,.,........................................................................................................ 21 - 23
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ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this experiment is to investigate the effectiveness of biowaste in

cleaning up the oil spill. Therefore, organic sorbents are used as biowaste in this experiment.

The experiment was designed to compare between three different and strong organic sorbents

which could absorb oil spill. With these three organic sorbents we would be able to come up

with the most effective organic sorbents which could absorb the most amount of oil spill. The

three organic sorbents used were the human hair, coconut husks and corn cobs. The most

effective organic sorbent must be hydrophobic, absorbs up to 19 times its own weight in non-

polar liquids, floats on water, economical and can be reused or disposed of by incineration or

burial in accordance with local regulations to rescue operation of marine oil spill.

There are two ways the fix pollutant (crude oil) will adhere on the surface of the organic

sorbents which is through adsorption and absorption. Adsorption means retention of the

pollutant on the surface of the sorbent. Absorption means retention of the pollutant within the

sorbent itself.

Thus, in order to conduct this experiment, the organic materials must be cut and prepared to

be in similar sizes so that the surface area for absorption will be same and the results will be

accurate. The organic sorbents were made into booms before it is immersed into the crude oil

where, the nylon casing act as the booms. From this experiment, the percentage of recovered

crude oil for each organic materials was calculated. Based on the results the effectiveness of

these organic sorbents can be proved.

Based on the percentage of recovered crude oil, coconut husk appeared to be the most

effective organic sorbent compared to the hair and the corn cobs. Coconut husk manage to

absorb up to 83% of crude oil which is about 20 times of its own weight.
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INTRODUCTION

The pollution of marine environments is a concern of international proportions. Ocean

pollution is caused by a variety of sources, including oil and petroleum based products. Oil

pollution, either by way of oil tanker spills or as a result of other human activities, results in

massive damage to marine environments and coastlines. The negative consequences are both

short and long-term in nature, and will impact every individual on earth in some way or

another in the near future.

When oil is spilled or leaked into in waterways and the ocean, it spreads very quickly with

the help of wind and currents. A single gallon of oil can create an oil slick up to a couple of

acres in size. When oil starts mixing in water, it can change composition and becomes what's

known as "mousse". This is a sticky substance that clings even more to whatever it comes in

contact with. Many marine animals don't know to avoid a slick and some fish may even be

attracted to it as it can resemble food.

However, people are involved in efforts to prevent oil spills and their consequences. They

also are involved in efforts to “clean up” after such spills take place. These cleanups are

usually conducted by oil companies, government agencies, local groups and volunteers.

There are several methods used in these cleanups, with varying degrees of success. Crews

come in by air and sea to try to contain and skim the spreading oil from the water’s surface.

Oil that cannot be skimmed is emulsified using dispersants, chemicals which break down oil

into small droplets that can float away and disperse out to sea. These chemicals pose their

own danger, however. This broken-down oil can be absorbed by marine life and into the food

chain. A 2007 Israeli study reported that the combination of dispersants and broken-down oil
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are actually more toxic to tropical coral reefs than raw crude oil. Sometimes, oil-eating

bacteria and sorbents (large sponges) are put to work to clean up the oil spills.

Therefore, we came up with an idea of using the sorbents to clean up these oil spills.

Sorbents are solid products capable of trapping liquid pollutants. Sorbents are used to reduce

the spread of a spill of pollutant, fix a pollutant by impregnation to facilitate its recovery for

small spills, recover the pollutant from effluents generated by clean-up operations, filter

pollutant that cannot be recovered from a water mass (channels, rivers, water intakes

and washing effluents). There are three types of sorbents which are organic, inorganic and

synthetic sorbents. Our group has decided to investigate the effectiveness organic sorbents in

cleaning up oil spill. Organic sorbents can absorb between 3 to 15 times their weight in oil,

floats on water and economical. To be more precise, we narrowed down our experiment on

three selected organic sorbents which are the corn cobs, undyed human hair and coconut

husks.

Why these three organic materials were chosen?

Human hair consists of three layers. The outside layer, known as the cuticle, is made of

scales of the protein keratin. Much like the shingle coverings of a roof, the keratin scales

protect the inner portions of the hair. The next layer also contains keratin, but is made of

protein fibres more tightly knit together. Finally, the inner core--known as the medulla--is

composed of round cells. Hair naturally absorbs oil. The corn cob is a fluid absorbing device

having a natural wicking or capillary action for controlling oil spills. The most important

characteristic of corncob products is their absorbency—their capacity to hold up to four times

their weight in fluid. While, coconut husk floats on water and is 100% biodegradable.
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Coconut husk is entirely nontoxic. It is light in weight and creates very little dust even when

thrown a considerable distance onto a surface.

Therefore, the experiment is conducted to test and compare the ability and the amount of

oil that can be absorb between these three organic sorbents. Based on our research, we

predicted that the hair will be able to absorb the most amount of oil compare to the other

organic materials.
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PURPOSE

The main purpose of the experiment is to investigate the effectiveness of biowaste in cleaning

up the oil spill by comparing between three types of organic sorbents which are the human

hair, corn cobs and coconut husks. The effectiveness is determined by calculating the

percentage of recovered crude oil at the end of the experiment.

Besides, to instil nature loving attitude and good moral values are also the purpose of this

experiment.

\
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EXPERIMENT DESIGN

The manipulated variable in this experiment is the type of organic sorbents which are the

human hair, corn cobs and the coconut husks.

The responding variable in this experiment were the final mass (g) of organic sorbents which

will be use in the calculation of the percentage of recovered crude oil.

The constants in this experiment were:

• The initial mass of organic sorbents (g)

• The size of organic sorbents

• The size of nylon casing

• Volume of crude oil (ml)

• Initial mass of nylon casing (g)

• Size of beaker
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MATERIALS AND APPARATUS

Below are the list of apparatus and materials required to conduct the experiment.

Materials :

• Undyed human hair

• Coconut husk

• Cooked corn cobs

• 250 cm³ crude oil

• Distilled water

Apparatus :

• Three 500 cm³ beaker

• Forceps

• Electronic balance

• Stopwatch

• An oven

• Nylon casing

• Wash bottle

• Knife
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The materials that were used in the experiment

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Crude Oil Electronic

balance

Beaker

The apparatus that were used in the experiment

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Stopwatch Forcep and

Spatula

Wash Bottle

The apparatus that were used in the experiment

METHOD
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First, the organic materials were cut into similar sizes. Then, the materials was put into an

oven and was set to be 120° Celsius for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the materials were removed

from the oven and 5.89 grams of each organic materials were measured using an electronic

balance. Later these organic materials were put into the nylon casings and weighed. Two sets

of organic materials were prepared. The mass are recorded in the table below.

Secondly, the beakers were labelled A, B and C. 250 cm³ crude oil was poured into the

beakers respectively. The prepared organic materials were then immersed into the crude oil in

the respective beakers and the stopwatch was started. The forceps were used to flip the nylon

casing while waiting for 10 minutes to over. After 10 minutes, the nylon casing was removed

from the crude oil and it was let to drip for 20 seconds. The final mass of the organic

materials were then weighed. The experiment was repeated using the second set of organic

sorbents. The results were recorded in the Table 1 below and the data was tabulated. Then,

the percentage of recovered crude oil was calculated by using the formulae below and was

recorded in Table 2.

Formulae :

Percentage of recovered crude oil = Mass of recovered crude oil X 100%

Final mass

RESULTS
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Table 1

Mass (g) Type of organic materials

Human Coconut Corn

hair husk cob

Initial mass of casing (g) 1.46 1.46 1.46
Initial mass of organic material (g) 5.89 5.89 5.89
Initial mass of casing + organic material (g) 7.35 7.35 7.35
Final mass of casing + organic material (g) 24.40 43.74 18.88
Mass of recovered crude oil (g) 17.05 35.89 11.53

Table 2

Table 1 shows the mass of recovered crude oil. Table 2 shows the percentage of recovered

crude oil. Corn cob absorbed the least volume of crude oil which was 61.2%. It has a least

Organic material Percentage of recovered crude oil

Human hair 70%

Coconut husk 83%

Corn cob 61.2%

percentage of recovered crude oil. The human hair can absorb more crude oil than the corn

cob. Human hair has a higher percentage of recovered crude oil which was 70.0%. The most

effective organic material in cleaning a oil spill is the coconut husk. The coconut husk has the

highest percentage, which is 83% of recovered crude oil. It absorbed more crude oil than the

corn cob and the human hair.

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Diagram 1

Diagram 1 shows the graph for comparison of percentage of recovered crude oil for the three

organic substances which are human hair, coconut husk and corn cobs. As shown in the graph

above, coconut husk indicates the highest percentage of recovered crude oil, followed by

human hair and finally the lowest percentage of recovered crude oil is from the corn cobs.

DISCUSSION
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1. Which organic sorbent is the most effective in absorbing oil spill?

Coconut husk.

2. Why is coconut husk more effective in absorbing oil spill compare to human hair?

This is because coconut husk floats and absorbs oil in preference to water. One pound of

coconut husk will absorb between about eight and ten pounds of crude oil. A very significant

advantage of coconut husk over conventional oil absorption substances used to absorb oil in

oil spill situations is that coconut husk is one hundred percent biodegradable. Coconut husk

floats upon water and remains afloat even when saturated with oil. Coconut husk absorbs oil,

coolants, solvents and other oily materials that float on water. Coconut husk is entirely

nontoxic. It is light in weight and creates very little dust even when thrown a considerable

distance onto a surface from which oil is to be absorbed. Furthermore, coconut husk has an

additional advantage in that it retains its consistency, even when spread on water and

saturated with oil. That is, it will not turn to “mush” even when wet and saturated with oil.

This feature allows the oil-saturated coconut husk to be scooped or raked from the surface of

a body of water without great difficulty. When utilized to absorb oil on the surface of a body

of water, coconut husk absorbs more than one gallon of oil per pound. The extent of

absorption depends upon the viscosity of the oil. Moreover, coconut husk reduces volatile

vapours from the oil by up to 90 percent. Coconut husk is ideal for use in cleaning up ocean

oil spills, as well as for use in cleaning up both outdoor and indoor spills on the ground or on

pavement compared to human hair.

3. Why is the nylon casing used in this experiment compare to other materials?
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Nylon casing is hydrophobic so it does not absorbs water or other fluid. Therefore, only

the organic materials will absorb the oil and the percentage of recovered crude oil will not

be affected.

4. Why booms are required in this experiment?

This is to make sure the oil spilled do not spread to other area which will endanger the

wildlife. Besides, booms also can be used to adsorb the oil spilled.

5. The organic substances need to be made into similar sizes. Why?

This is to ensure the surface area for absorption is the same. Different surface area will

cause the rate of absorption to differ. Therefore, the surface area should be kept constant.

6. How do this clean up method can be applied in our daily life?

This method can be used to clean up spills on water bodies, spills on the ground, spills on

streams, rivers and coastal areas as well as to clean up sites to recover washing effluents.

CONCLUSION
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Corn cob absorbed the least volume of crude oil which was 61.2%. It has a least

percentage of recovered crude oil. The human hair can absorb more crude oil than the corn

cob. Human hair has a higher percentage of recovered crude oil which was 70.0%. The most

effective organic material in cleaning a oil spill is the coconut husk. The coconut husk has the

highest percentage, which is 83% of recovered crude oil. It absorbed more crude oil than the

corn cob and the human hair.In conclusion, coconut husk is the most effective sorbent in

cleaning up oil spill. Thus, coconut husk should be used to clean up oil spill.

The percentage of recovered crude oil decreases in order:

Coconut husk > human hair > corb cobs

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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We owe a great many thanks to many great people who helped and supported us during

the research.

My deepest thanks to teacher, Madam Veena Kumari the guide of the

project .We would like to thank her for guiding and correcting various documents of us with

attention and care. She has taken pain to go through the project and make necessary

correction as and when needed.

I express my thanks to the Principal, lab assistance and all teachers for

extending their support. Our deep sense of gratitude to all of our friends who gave support

and guidance. Thanks and appreciation to the helpful people in the lab, for their support.

We would also thank our group members without whom this project would have been a

distant reality. I also extend my heartfelt thanks our family members. Thank you.
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