Marine oil spills and petrochemical discharges occurring either naturally or deliberately can have destructive impacts on environment and economy of a nation. Water bodies contaminated by oil pose challenge to the survival of aquatic biodiversity. Nanotechnology is offering new potential routes to remediate the oil pollution. In the present study, a superparamagnetic nanocomposite of Fe₃O₄/chitosan was synthesised using co-precipitation method. The prepared material was characterized to determine chemical structure, morphology, shape and size, thermal and magnetic properties. The magnetic adsorbent was employed for the adsorptive removal of petroleum based diesel oil from oil-in-water emulsions. The efficiency of the synthesized nanocomposite was examined by batch adsorption experiments to determine the effect of pH, adsorption time and adsorbent dose on the oil removal process. From the experimental data, it was found that the adsorption process followed the pseudo second order kinetics (R² = 0.9962) and Langmuir isotherm (R² = 0.9998) indicating towards a monolayer chemisorption process. Thermodynamic parameters showed that the adsorption was spontaneously endothermic (ΔH = + 38.779 kJ/mol) and the nanocomposite was found to be recyclable up to least five cycles of oil–water separation. The optimization of oil removal process was carried out using response surface methodology (RSM) as function of four factors consisting of pH, adsorbent dose, stirring speed and adsorption time. The study provides the basis for development of an eco-friendly and promising material for treatment of oil and hydrocarbon pollution from water bodies in environmental clean-up.

中文翻译：

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使用SPIONs-壳聚糖纳米复合材料吸附去除水中的油：动力学和工艺优化

自然或故意发生的海洋石油泄漏和石化排放可能对一个国家的环境和经济造成破坏性影响。被石油污染的水体对水生生物多样性的生存构成了挑战。纳米技术为补救油污染提供了新的潜在途径。在本研究中，Fe ₃ O ₄的超顺磁性纳米复合材料使用共沉淀法合成了壳聚糖。表征所制备的材料以确定化学结构，形态，形状和尺寸，热和磁性能。磁性吸附剂用于从水包油乳液中吸附去除石油基柴油。通过分批吸附实验检查了合成的纳米复合材料的效率，以确定pH，吸附时间和吸附剂剂量对除油过程的影响。从实验数据发现，吸附过程遵循伪二级动力学（R ²  = 0.9962）和朗缪尔等温线（R ² = 0.9998）表示迈向单层化学吸附过程。热力学参数表明，吸附是自发吸热的（ΔH  = + 38.779 kJ / mol），并且发现该纳米复合材料可循环使用至少五个油水分离循环。使用响应表面方法（RSM）根据pH，吸附剂剂量，搅拌速度和吸附时间这四个因素进行除油工艺的优化。该研究为开发一种环保和有前途的材料提供了基础，该材料可用于在环境清洁中处理水体中的石油和碳氢化合物污染。