Treatment of emulsified oil using biopolymer assisted materials

The objective of this work is to exploit the hybrid composite materials viz., chitosan/aluminum‐zirconium mixed oxide (CS/AZMO) and chitosan/lanthanum‐zirconium mixed oxide (CS/LZMO) and to evaluate the equilibrium adsorption capacity for the removal of oil from oil‐in‐water emulsion batch equilibrium method. The adsorption on hybrid sorbents were characterized using FTIR, SEM with EDAX, TGA, DSC, and XRD analysis. Oil treated sorbents indicated the significant change owing to oil adsorption by both the sorbents. The experimental results showed that the sorption capacity significantly altered by pH as it plays a vital role in oil sorption process. At equilibrium, the maximum oil removal of 92% and 74% were achieved for 4% initial oil concentration using CS/LZMO and CS/AZMO, respectively. The regression coefficient values of Langmuir isotherm clearly indicate that it is best fit for oil sorption. Nature of oil sorption was found to be endothermic and spontaneous, confirmed by thermodynamic studies at different temperature. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:E261–E270, 2018. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers