Valorisation of cork by-products for the treatment of vegetal and animal oil co...

• Author(s): Pereira, J.P. ; Ferreira, C.I. ; Pintor, A.M. ; Correia, P. ; Silva, S. ; Vilar, V. ; Botelho, C. ; Martins, Ramiro ; Orfão, J. ; Boaventura, Rui
• Date: 2012
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/10965
• Origin: Biblioteca Digital do IPB
• Subject(s): Sorption; Cork by-products; Oily wastewaters; Water reuse
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

In this study, cork granules, which are by-products of the cork processing industry, were used as biosorbents for the removal of vegetable and animal oils from water. Simple oil-in-water emulsions were created by ultrasonic emulsification and batch adsorption tests were performed by contacting cork with these emulsions for a defined period of time. A mass transfer model was able to predict adequately the kinetic data, using a Linear Driving Force approximation for intraparticle diffusion and equilibrium described by the Langmuir-Freundlich equation. Maximum sorption capacities for vegetable and animal oil, as calculated by the Langmuir-Freundlich model, were 5 ± 4 and 2.3 ± 0.9 g g-1, respectively. Therefore, expanded cork granules proved to be an efficient, low-cost sorbent for both vegetable and animal oils