DEVELOPMENT OF OLEOPHILIC ADSORBENT BASED ON CHITOSAN- POLY (BUTYL ACRYLATE) GRAFT COPOLYMER FOR PETROLEUM OIL SPILL REMOVAL.

The present work was focused on the preparation, characterization and evaluation of oil adsorptive material based on chitosan- poly (butyl acrylate) graft copolymer. Chitosan (CS) was grafted with two different concentrations of n-butyl acrylate (ButA) monomer using free radical polymerization process, the prepared graft copolymers were also verified their structures, thermal stability and the morphological changes using FT-IR spectroscopy, TGA/DSC, and SEM respectively. Results showed that increasing the amount of ButA in the feed mixture enhanced the hydrophobic-oleophilic characters for the prepared grafted copolymers. Furthermore, the contact angle (wettability) measurements indicates that the grafted copolymers exhibit hydrophobic and oleophilic characters and recorded maximum values 131?, 116? compared to the native chitosan (80?) using water droplet, and 33?, 42? compared to 120? for chitosan using light crude oil droplet. The selectivity of the grafted copolymers for adsorption of different oil types was studied to investigate their hydrophobic/hydrophilic and oleophilic characters. Furthermore, the evaluation of the oil spill adsorption process was also evaluated under different environmental conditions using crude oil- artificial seawater system. The increment of oil adsorption (%) of the grafted copolymers associated also with increasing the oil viscosity in the following order; gasoil < mobil-1 oil < light crude oil < heavy crude oil. The prepared chitosan-poly (butyl acrylate) graft copolymer could be applied as a promising adsorbent for petroleum oil spill applications.