In the present work, the potential application of a fabricated halloysite nanotubes-Ag-TiO (HNT-Ag-TiO) composite loaded with a binary surfactant mixture made up of lecithin and Tween 80 (LT80) in remediating oil spillages was examined. The as-prepared Ag-TiO that was used in the fabrication of the HNT-Ag-TiO-LT80 composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, CV analyses, and SEM-EDX. The synthesized composite was also characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVarious studies report that aside from the adverse impact of the crude oil on the marine environment, there is the likelihood that chemical dispersants used on the surface of water as oil-treating agents themselves possess a degree of toxicity, which have additional effects on the environment. To eliminate the subject of toxicity, there exist several materials in nature that have the ability to form good emulsions, and such products include protein molecules. In this study, chicken feathers which are known to contain ≥90% protein were used to formulate a novel dispersant to disperse crude oil in seawater (35 ppt).
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