ABSTRACT

The aim of this research is to determine rate of adsorption of the natural

based product which is Kapok compare to the synthetic product,
Polypropylene. Polypropylene is the most commercially used to remove oil
spill from water surface but has the major problem relating to the
environment which is non- biodegradable. Not only this problem, the cost of
Polypropylene is higher than natural based products. In order to achieve the
objective, several experiment must be conducted such as water adsorbency
and oil adsorbency test. This test determined the amount water and oil
uptake from kapok and polypropylene. The lower amount of water adsorbs
and the higher amount of oil intake will show which one of these adsorbents
are more effective in cleaning the oil spill. Natural based products are more
economical and inexpensive besides being locally available in this country.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

An oil spills is the result of the human activity, human error or natural
disaster especially in marine areas that lead to release of liquid hydrocarbon.
As we know oil spills often occur in marine areas but spills may occur on
land. Result of oil spill can give adverse effect to the environment and
animals. Oil spills usually happen due to releases from tank, drilling rigs,
offshore facilities, ships and refine petroleum products such as diesel.
Oil spill accident is not recent issue that occurs in marine and land
areas. For example, incident which leads severe environmental damage is
Exxon Valdez. This incident spill about 11.2 million gallon of crude oil into
coastal water of Prince William Sound, Alaska. During Gulf war in 1991, the
destruction of oil storage tank in Kuwait, resulted 4-inch thick oil slick that
spread along 4,000 square miles in Persian Gulf (Woodrow W. Clark III and
Grant Cooke, 2014). The incident contributes to the oil pollution which affects
many aspect including economy, environment, tourism and community. At
Malaysia in 1992, a collision of tanker Nagasaki Spirit at the Straits of
Malacca resulting in the discharge of 12,000 tonnes of crude oil into waters
just off the coast of Sumatra and the northern resort island in Malaysia. Since
the development of oil and gas industry, oil spills accident play major
problems faced by the world as the environment is being polluted by
petroleum products (Rosnani Ibrahim, 1995).
Various sorbents have been used in order to control oil spills from
spreading along the coast. Wide ranges of oil remediation have been
employed such as booms, skimmers, sorbents and dispersants. According to

(Teik-Thye, 2007), oil sorption by sorbents is one of the most economical and
efficient method for combating oil spill. One of the specialty of oil sorbents is
it able to concentrate and transform liquid oil to semi solid or solid phase
which can be removed from water and managed in convenient manner
without significant oil draining out. Biodegradable absorbents have excellent
properties to control oil pollution. Most of the biodegradable absorbents have
better absorption capacities than synthetic absorbents in but sometimes
often sorbs water rather than oil. There are three classes of oil sorbent which
are organic natural products, organic synthetic product and inorganic mineral
product.
For

now,

Polypropylene

(PP)

and

polyurethane are

the

most

commercially product that be used as oil sorbents. These products are

categorized as organic synthetic products. But they are non-biodegradable
and difficult to deal with. Usually, synthetic and inorganic mineral product,
have

several

weaknesses

especially

in

terms

of

their

oil

sorbents

characteristics, weak oil sorption capacity, reusability, non-biodegradable

and poor oil recovery which lead to the breakdown of their microstructure
from sorption of water. Ceiba petandra (L.) Gaertn. (Kapok) is natural plant
fiber that has excellent hydrophobic-oleophilic characteristics because of the
presence penetrable hollow lumen structure and waxy material on its surface
(Siti Kartina and Nor Suhaila, 2012). Kapok fiber consists of cellulose, lignin
and xylan which is highly lignified organic seed fiber. Typically, this plant
found in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, others part of East Asia and
Africa. The high amount of waxy cutin in kapok compare to cotton
contributes to its high water repellency.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
For

now,

synthetic

product

such

as

Polypropylene,

Polyester

and

polyurethane foams are the main sorbents for combating oil spills. Generally,
these materials have high capacity of oil adsorbing, but there are nonrenewable materials and the cost are high. The problem faced by synthetic

product lead to intensive interest in natural sorbents. Many researches have

been done those natural products such as kapok has massive potential as
sorbents for oil spills clean up over commercially available synthetic
products. Besides being environmental friendly, natural products are the
most economical and efficient method for combating oil spills. Depending on
the nature of studies, natural products resulted about 1.5 to 3.0 times
greater oil sorption than polypropylene.
1.3 OBJECTIVE
Objectives of this research are:
i.
ii.

To determine the rate adsorption of these adsorbents for specific oil.

To identify the best choice of adsorbents for oil spill cleanup.

1.4 SCOPE OF WORK

The main scope of this work is to develop an eco-friendly natural based
adsorbent which are very economical and technically feasible. The types of
oil use are diesel, crude oil and lubricating oil. Preparation of the Kapok and
Polypropylene before running the test.
The scope of this study are as follows:
i.

Perform water adsorbency test for the adsorbent which are Kapok and

ii.

Polypropylene.
Perform oil adsorbency test for the adsorbent which are Kapok and

iii.

Polypropylene.
Choose the best adsorbent regarding the test conducted.

CHAPTER TWO
LITERRITURE REVIEW

2.1 FATE OF OIL SPILL

According to the (The International Tankers Owners Pollution Federation
Limited [ITOPF], 2002), weathering process is the changes of chemical and
physical that spilled oil undergoes. Once the spilled oil is release, it will go
through this process and start to convert the oil immediately. The weathering
process of spilled oil are depending upon factors such as the initial physical
oil, amount of spilled, chemical characteristics, sea conditions and weather
the oil remains at sea or washed onto land. As the progress of weathering
process take place, the oil is continuously change in physical state where the
light fraction evaporates gradually, their density increases, some of the oil

naturally disperse into water column whereas the residual oil on the water
surface may become mixed together with sea water. The spilled oil also may
be oxidized by ultraviolet ration and lastly the remaining oil will undergo
sedimentation process.

Figure 1: Overview of weathering process (Per Johan Brandvik & Frode Leirvik, 2008)

2.1.1 Spreading of oil

Spilled oil will started spread on the water surface once it spilled. The
speed of spreading oil is affected by the viscosity and the volume of oil spill.
Viscosity and density of remaining oil increased as the spreading decrease.
But the viscosity will reduce if the spreading is firm because of the oil gets
thinner and thinner. When the temperature is below their pour point, oil may
become rapidly solidify and cause the spreading of oil to retarded. The rate
of spreading oil is affected by tidal streams and currents where the stronger
of these forces, the faster the process. One of the example of oil spreading is
that it can spread to hundred kilometers in just few days hence limiting the
possibility of clean-up process. So during clean-up operation and equipment

needed may hard because more area need to be covered. Wind, water
turbulence and wave action have a tendency to cause the spilled oil to form
narrow bands that follow to the wind direction. The properties of the oil in
determining the slick movement is less important at this stage.
2.1.2 Evaporation
Evaporation in this process is define as movement molecules of the oil
from the surface water to the vapor phase. Particularly, components of oil
with low boiling points will easily evaporate from the water surface. Typically,
evaporation is the most part of weathering process since the first day of
spilled oil. The effectiveness of the evaporation process may be in charge of
the loss of an oil spill for about one-thirds to two-thirds within a few hours or
a day (Randolph E. Jordan & James R. Payne, 1980). Even though the amount
of spilled oil is decrease through evaporation, residual of oil have greater
specific gravity and viscosity which promote the thickening of the oil and the
formation of the tarballs. Sometimes the problem faced make it more difficult
to disperse. The more volatile components are evaporating first and followed
by slower loss of less volatile components. Rate of evaporation of an oil is
depending on several parameters.
i.

ii.
iii.

iv.

Properties of the oil

The properties include volatility, viscosity, density, boiling point and
aqueous solubility.
Wind speed
The stronger the wind speed, the rapid oil to evaporates.
Temperature
The higher the temperature, the higher the rate of evaporation
process.
Surface area
Evaporation is faster when have greater surface area.

2.1.3 Dispersion
Natural dispersion occurs when waves and turbulence at the marine
environment cause the oil slick to break into droplet and mixed into the

water column. The larger droplets that cannot go through to the water
column may float back to the surface either coalesce another droplets or
form as a very thin film which is called as sheen. Specifically, light oil
disperses more rapidly than the heavy oil. So when the state of the sea is
rough, it may be completely dispersing throughout the sea. It is useful when
surface oil is applied by the dispersant which helps the formation of smaller
droplets do not rise back to the surface, thus provide time to dilute in water
column instead of recombining to form new slick. Dispersed oil that existing
in water column has much higher contact area with the water. Indirectly, the
rate of dissolution and rate of natural biodegradation are increase.
2.1.4 Emulsification
In rough seas, many heavy oils have a tendency to form water-in-oil
emulsion. The heavier hydrocarbon be likely to precipitate out of the oil
mixture called solid particles as the oil slick undergoes evaporation. These
particles help a water-in-oil emulsion to stabilize because of the existence of
natural surfactant (Lewis A and Aurand D, 1997) and subsequently leading to
thickening of the oil and increase in the total volume. The continues of the
emulsions create the droplets of the water to become smaller because of the
movement of the oil in the waves, making it more viscous and stable.
Density of the emulsion will nearly same with sea water as the amount of
water absorbed increases. Generally stable emulsion may cover the water up
to 80% and they are often semi-solid and red/brown or orange in color.
Emulsification of water-in-oil is the main reason why rate of weathering
process is decrease and persistence on light and medium crude oil on the
sea surface.
2.1.5 Dissolution
Dissolution is defined as transferring of the oil components into solution in
the water column from surface of the slick. In general, rate of dissolution
depends on its composition, water temperature, molecular structure and

degree of dispersion. Lighter components mainly aromatic hydrocarbon such

as benzene is more soluble that the heavier hydrocarbon. However, lighter
compounds are more volatile and lost very rapidly by evaporation, normally
10 to 1000 times faster than dissolution. Hydrophobic and hydrophilic
molecules is the part of mechanism of dissolution. Hydrophobic parts will
attach to oil molecule while hydrophilic part will attach to water molecules
([IPIECA], 2000).
2.1.6 Sedimentation
Over time, some of oil with heavier solids which have the specific
gravity more than 1000 usually sink in marine water. Additionally, they may
settle on the sea floor to form sediments. Process of sedimentation occurred
when after evaporation where the high boiling point of the hydrocarbon
causes rising in specific gravity and viscosity and simultaneously sink them
to the sea floor. Besides, when dispersant is applied, it will have dispersed
the oil abroad and preventing the oil coming into sea floor. Therefore, the oil
droplets remain float and do not sink.
2.1.7 Biodegradation
Decomposition of oil slick into more simple and light hydrocarbons by
microorganism and convert to more solubility products and subsequently to
carbon dioxide and water (Sungpetch, 1998). Microorganisms in seawater
including yeast, bacteria, unicellular algae and fungi which can consume oil
as a source of carbon and energy. Even though these microorganisms have
the tendency to be found in polluted coastal areas, they also tend be
abundant throughout the worlds ocean. However, the rate of biodegradation
is affected by the characteristics of the oil, temperature and availability of
oxygen and nutrients. When the oil is present on the water surface in the
open sea, small amount microorganism can still develop rapidly. Degradation
process will stop if the nutrient or oxygen is decrease. A wide range
combination of the microorganisms is needed because they have the ability

to break down a specific group of the hydrocarbons. Large and complex

molecules are resistant to attack although most of the microorganisms are
capable of degrading compound in crude oil. Oil droplets that have been
created by the natural or chemical dispersion increase the interfacial area for
biodegradation process.
2.2 METHOD OIL SPILL CLEAN UP
Nowadays there are many techniques for oil spills cleanup in order to
remove oil from surface water surface such as physical method, use of
chemical dispersants and bioremediation. However, these techniques have
their advantages and limitations toward environment. Once the oil spills, the
cleanup process must take place immediately because it will naturally spread
and disperse under the influence of waves, wind and current.
2.2.1 Physical Method
2.2.1.1 Booms
The most common methods of oil spill cleanup involve trying to
contain the spill is with floating booms to prevent spill from getting out of
control. This is only possible if the spill can be reached in a few hours
occurred, if not, the area is too large to contain the spill with even the largest
floating stopper. It helps to concentrate oil and maintain an even thickness
so that skimmers or other cleanup techniques can be applied. One of the
advantage of booms and skimmers over using chemical dispersants and insitu combustion is the absence of severe environmental effects (A. Castro, G.
Iglesias, R. Carballo & J.A. Fraguela, 2010).

Figure 2: Booms moored around a sunken ship to prevent the spreading of oil
([ITOPF], 2014).

The basic components of booms are freeboard, skirt, ballast and

longitudinal support. Freeboard, an above part, prevent oil from being
washed over the booms and must flexible enough with the waves so that
freeboard is not lost. Skirt, a below part, which has purpose of containing the
oil and help reduce the amount of oil from lost under the booms. Ballast is
weight added to the bottom of the skirt, maintain the booms in position
perpendicular to the surface of water and sometimes provide the tension
member for the booms. Longitudinal support, usually running along the
bottom of skirt, keep and strengthens the boom against wave and wind
action.
The application of booms depends on the condition of the sea.
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA], 2010) stated that
boom have four types. The four types of boom are as follow:
i

Hard boom. The structure typically made of PVC or similar durable

material. It has two main types which are hard boom and harbor boom.
The main difference between these booms are size of floatation

ii

chamber, strength of material and depth of the skirt.

Fire boom. The design of this boom is similar to hard boom but the
material is made of components which can resist to the heat generated

by burning oil beyond 2,000 F. Fire boom is usually functions to trap

iii

spilled oil so that it can be burned on site operation.

Sorbent boom. The structure basically looks like a long sausage and
invented of a long fabric sock enclosing material. The nature this boom
is attract oil rather than water on the open sea. As soon as the boom is

iv

saturated with the oil, it should be removed and properly disposed of.
Snare boom. Usually placed along a shoreline, tied in long line and
anchored by stanchions. Small quantity of spilled oil and tarballs
brought by tides and waves will attached to it.
Booms performances and abilities to contain oil are affected by harsh

sea condition, human limitations, birds or pelicans and other structural

limitations. Therefore, the effectiveness of boom only in calm water
conditions and the cost to operate it will much higher if boom installed far
offshore.
2.2.1.2

Skimmer

Skimmer is well-defined as any mechanical means, specifically

deliberate for the removal of oil from the surface water. Physically, skimmers
are function to separate oil from the water without the presence of chemical
agents. Dissimilar to dispersants, there is no chemical contact between
skimmers and oil. Usually, once the oil spill has been successfully contained,
skimmers can be executed. According to (Victoria Broje and Arturo A. Keller,
2007), recovery efficiency of skimmers depends on several factors such as
thickness, oil slick temperature and oil slick viscosity where high slick
viscosity and temperature increase skimmer recovery efficiency.
Commonly, oil skimmer can be divided into three types. The first type
is weir skimmer which use a damn or enclosure positioned at the oil/water
interface. Principally this device using gravity to drain oil from water surface.
The oil which float on the top of the water will flow over the damn and
trapped inside it, bringing as little water as possible. Normally, a weirs are
launched from vessel using a crane and will guided by the rope. The trapped

oil that has combined with water mixture can be pumped out through a hose
or pipe to a storage tank prior to disposal. Due to simple construction, this
weir is the most commonly used in combating oil spill. Weir skimmers either
be remote controlled or selfadjusting. These skimmers are prone to
becoming jammed and clogged by floating debris. Second type is oleophilic
skimmer. The recovering oil is based on specific material which have greater
affinity for oil than water. Oleophilic skimmers adsorb spilled oil from water
surface by using belt, disc or continuous mop chain. The oil is squeezed from
water surface of materials and collected into recovery tank. One of the
advantages is their flexibility, permitting them to be utilized successfully on
spills of any thickness and work well on the water that floated with debris or
rough ice. The last type of skimmer is suction skimmer that work similarly to
the household vacuum cleaner. Therecoveredoil/watermixtureis is sucked up
through wide floating heads and pumped into storage tanks. Although
suction skimmers are generally very efficient, they are vulnerable to
becoming clogged by debris and require constant skilled observation. The
best conditions to operate vacuum skimmer is when there are no waves
because it need smooth water to prevent from plugged with debris.

Figure 3: Conceptual model for oleophilic skimmer types by using belt (Patel,
2015)

2.2.1.3

Sorbents

Oil sorbents can be divided into three categories which are organic,
inorganic and synthetic products. Their configuration and composition is
dependent on the materials used and their intended application towards the
response. Sorbents are used effectively during recovering small pool of oils
that other techniques are difficult to employed, according to the (The
International Tankers Owners pollution Federation Limited [ITOPF], 2012).
The deployment of sorbents should be conducted with caution in order to
minimize inappropriate and excessive use which can lead to difficulties with
secondary contamination, storage, retrieval and disposal. If these problems
happened, it contributes significantly to the overall cost of clean-up
operations. The present of viscous oils such as heavy fuel oil and oil that
have been emulsified in open sea, sorbents are not suitable used and
generally less effective although some sorbents have been specifically
engineered for viscous oils.

Natural organic sorbent

The absorption of natural organic sorbent is about three (3) to fifteen
(15) times their weight in oil, nontoxic as they are biodegradable.
Examples of this types consists of peat moss, hay, sawdust, corncobs
and other readily available carbon-based products. It is inexpensive,
easy to apply and recover and generally available. According to (J.W.
Doerffer, 1992), natural organic sorbent has potential to increase their
oil sorption, but they absorb water as well as oil resulting to sink
rapidly when saturated with water. This can lead to severe clean up
problem such as considerable of manpower and disposal of oilcontaminated sorbents by burning or burial. Some of the organic
sorbents are loose in particles and are hard to collect after they have
been installed on the water. This problem can be solved by adding
floatation devices such as empty drums attached to the sorbents and

wrapping loose particles in mesh.

Natural inorganic sorbent

This sorbent also called sinking sorbent including of clay, vermiculite,

perlite, volcanic ash and wool. Generally inorganic sorbent has been
used to sink floating oil and have the properties such as high density,
fine grained material either natural or processed form. They can soak
up the oil from 4 to 20 times their weight in oil. They commonly most
competent with heavy and viscous oil and more effective with the oil
that has been weathered or become viscous of low water temperature
and air. The absorbed oil also tends to release back while sinking
because of low retention capacity of some of the solids. Same like
organic sorbent, inorganic sorbents are inexpensive and readily
available in large quantity.

Synthetic sorbent
Synthetic sorbent is a man-made material which are similar to plastics
such as polypropylene polyurethane and nylon fibers. Basically they
have good hydrophobic-oleophilic properties and high adsorption
capacity. Most types of this absorbent can absorbs up to 70 times their
weight in oil and sometimes can go further. The substances that
cannot be cleaned after they are used can present difficulties and
arrangement must be made for their temporary storage prior to
disposal. On the other hand, the cost for the disposal will be high. The
major disadvantages of the synthetic sorbent are relatively expensive
and non-biodegradable. They also are not always available in large
quantities.

Below are several parameters in choosing the best sorbents to use. The
parameters as follow:

Rate of absorption. The absorption of oil is quicker with lighter oil

items. Once retained the oil can't be re-discharged. Compelling with
light hydrocarbons such as gasoline, benzene and diesel fuel.

Rate of adsorption. The viscosity of the oil also affects the adsorption
process. Therefore, the thicker oils will straightforwardly adhere to the

adsorbent more adequately.

Oil retention. Adsorption and absorption process will make the sorbents
full of recovered oils and effect it structure to deform. This will lead to
the discharge of oil that is caught in its pores. Lighter oil easily to lose

its recovered oil in the sorbents through the pores than heavier oil.
Ease of application. Practically sorbents may be applied mechanically
or manually by using blower or fans. In the real situations, natural
inorganic sorbent that exist as loose materials will hardly to apply in
the windy conditions and hazardous if inhaled.

2.2.2 Chemical Method

2.2.2.1 Dispersant
The specialists of dispersants are handling chemical oil spills that are
aimed to break down oil into small droplets that more readily mixed with
water. If the accident has occurred for about a long time, normally response
team will use dispersant rather than mechanical boom to avoid spilled oil
from getting nearer the beach and also helps to stimulate the biodegradation
of oil at the sea (Carolyn Federici, Jonathan Mintz, 2014).

The

effectiveness of chemical dispersant can be high when used appropriately

towards the response of oil spill. Nowadays, dispersants sometimes added
with surfactants to control spreading of dispersed oil. The functions are to
decreases the viscosity of the surfactant itself which permits it to be sprayed
and helps the penetration into the oil slick. Their ability to remove the large
amount of certain oil types from water surface and moving it to water
segment. Energy from waves will break down the oil slick and then will
followed by biodegradation process by micro-organisms in the marine
environment. They also able to delay the formation of water in oil emulsions.
Careful consideration must take into accounts when choosing the dispersants
such as oil characteristics, environmental sensitivities and the conditions of

the sea and weather. In certain circumstances, dispersants may provide the
only means of eliminating significant amounts of surface oil rapidly, hence
minimizing or preventing damage to important resources.
Interaction of oil slick with dispersants happened at the boundary
between oil slick and underlying water. Surfactant particles bring into line
along the oil-water interface and trapped the oil into small droplets away
from slick and diluting it in the underlying water. The configuration of the
surfactant molecules is made up of two parts which are hydrophilic part and
hydrophilic part. The hydrophilic part means water loving while oleophilic
part means oil loving. Usually, an oil slick is sprayed with dispersants where
the surfactants are being carried and spread along the oil slick until it
reached the oil/water boundary. The surfactants are rearranged where the
oleophilic part of molecule is situated in the oil while the hydrophilic part of
molecule is in water. This results will make the surface tension of the oilwater interface to have significant sharp reduction and with the aid of wave
energy, small oil droplets will break away from the slick. After that, the oil
droplets will degrade by the naturally occurring micro-organism which is
called biodegradation.

Figure 4: Schematic diagram for the mechanism of dispersants. (National Research

Council, 2005)

Generally chemical dispersants have two categories:

i.

Hydrocarbon based dispersants

The solvent is made up from hydrocarbon with a low or no aromatic

content. The average amount of surfactant in these dispersants is
about 15-25% and are intended for neat utilization to oil. The
dispersants are ineffective if they were pre-diluted with seawater and
be more toxic than concentrate dispersants and make them not
commonly used in many countries. The application rate of dispersants
to oil is high which is between 1:1 to 1:3.
ii.

Concentrate/Self-mix dispersants
Both oxygenated of different surfactants is blend together with
hydrocarbon solvents that is contained in the dispersants. Higher
concentration of surfactants which is from 25-65% make them can be
applied either undiluted or pre-diluted with sea water. The application
of dispersants to oil ranges between 1:5 to 1:30.

2.2.3 Biological Method

One of the most important process of removal petroleum product from
environment is biodegradation process involving weathering process. The
use of biological agents has the potential to contribute recovery in sensitive
areas such as wetlands, shorelines and marshes. Bioremediation can be
defined as adding of materials that can promote an acceleration to process
of natural biodegradation. (Hironori Taki, Yoh Takahata, Shigeaki
Harayama, 2003)

stated that oil-degrading microorganism including

bacteria, yeast and fungi.

The main purpose of bioremediation is to build an optimal environment
for microbes to degrade the oil droplets. Microbes will break down different
substances into water, carbon dioxide and other components. Commonly,
bioremediation is used as secondary treatment once the other methods to
combating oil spill have been used. They also have been classified as cost
effective

alternative.

However,

the

process

to

completely

removing

pollutants is very slow and sometimes can take weeks to months for results.

That is why the effectiveness of this process is difficult to determined and the
main reason Exxon Valdez incident are performed whenever possible. There
are two main approaches to oil spill by using bioremediation:

i.

Biostimulation
The process of biostimulation is the addition of limiting nutrient
into marine environment for oil spill clean-up where there is an existing
of oil degrading microbes. The large increase of carbon occurred when
oil is spilled where this element will excite the growth of oil degrading
microorganisms. The most important factor is oxygen and temperature
where without oxygen the microbes are unable to perform well for the
necessary degradation. (Coulan F, Mackew BA, Osborn AM, Mc
Genety TJ, Timmis KN, 2007) stated that biostimulation has been
turned out to be an effective way to increase hydrocarbon degradation
by the native microbial population. Temperature also plays important
role because a very low temperature or high temperature, the
effectiveness and speed of degradation is reduced.
Besides that, the other necessary elements for bio degradation
to occur is phosphorus and nitrogen. If concentration of these
supplemental elements is properly added, they are capable to achieve
their maximum growth rate hence the maximum rate of pollutant
uptake. The main important reason in achieving successful process is
obtaining the ideal concentrations of nutrients and keeping it as long
as possible. Physical influences such as density, tidal influences and
wave movements also effects the effectiveness of biostimulation. Once
the applied nutrients are dissolve with water, they tended to move
along tides and carried away to the sea. This is extremely valuable
data in deciding the best possible timing to add supplements keeping
in mind the end goal to take into account the most extreme home time
of the supplements in the polluted ranges. Results of the experiment
concluded that the nutrients should be used during low tide at high

tide line, which led to the nutrients maximum contact time with oil and
ii.

hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms.

Bioaugmentation
This is the process where the
microorganism
environment.

which
Since

is
the

microbes

are

microbes

hydrocarbon
added

usually

to

the

present

degrading
affected
at

most

environments, the adding is not necessary. They may need to be added

if present microbe in the contaminated area is unable to degrade the
pollutant. The effectiveness of bioaugmentation also not clearly stated
because the addition of non-indigenous organisms will cause rivalry to
the existing beneficial organisms. The competition between exiting
organisms

and

newly

added

microbes

will

create

another

environmental problem, thus it shows that bioaugmentation is not an

effective option in cleaning the oil spill. It also been looked upon
negatively in the public view and has been critics whether it is safe to
create a new species to an environment that is not native to.
Concentration of microbes is affected by protozoans, the effect of
waves on the area and surface area of the spill.
2.3 ECONOMICAL AND PRESENT PRODUCT
Presently, organic synthetic product such as polypropylene and
polyurethane

are

the

most

commercially

used.

But

they

are

not

biodegradable product and the application is difficult to tolerate after have

been used because of the xenobiotic structure (Teik-Thye Lim and
Xiaofeng Huang, 2007). There are many mineral products that used in
order to remove oil from marine environment as oil sorbents such as perlite,
organoclay, zeolite, silica and diatomite. However, most of the are difficult to
apply on site due to their granular or powder form. Moreover, they have low
oil sorption capacity and their buoyancy is poor. One of their advantages is
they cannot reusable after used besides of their low oil recovery. Because of
the limitation face by the mineral and synthetic product, this lead to the
recent concern in developing alternative materials that are degradable such

as natural-based products. Despites their availability can be found locally

and expensive, their residues have good oil absorbency. They have potential
to sorb more oil than polypropylene.
In this study, natural based product used is kapok [Ceiba pentandra (L)
Gaertn]. Usually, kapok fiber is used as quilts, fiberfill in pillow and
sometimes for soft toy. (Keko Hori, Maxima E. Flavier, Shigenori Kuga, Thi
Bach Tuyet Lam & Kenji Iiyama, 2000) stated that the composition of kapok
fibers is cellulose (35% dry fiber), xylan (22%) and lignin (21.5%) and usually
have high acetyl group (13%). Generally, kapok fiber is cultured in Sri Lanka,
East Asia, Africa and Southeast Asia. The growth of kapok is fast and become
productive within 4 to 5 years. Optimal condition of kapok trees may produce
330 to 400 fruits per year, come out with 30 kg seed and 15 to 18 kg of fiber
(K.M. Anigo, M.D. Dauda, A.B. Sallau & I.E.Chindo, 2013). The features of
kapok fibers are light in weight, fluffy and too in elastic to be span.

CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, specific explanation of the methodology is conducted and

also about the materials and equipment that are used. Natural recyclable
adsorbents which is kapok have been used to remove oils released from
bodies of water rather than polypropylene. This material is eco-friendly
environment in order to remove oil from water. Besides it prevents harm to
marine life and natural resources, it also can be easily found in Malaysia from
agricultural industry. Some of the methods and approaches will be stated to
obtain information about natural adsorbent for oil spill clean-up and synthetic
adsorbent which is polypropylene. To accomplish this study, a few stage of

experiment has to be conducted and the result will determine the best
adsorbents material to remove oil from surface.
Start

Reading journal and

research

Establishing experiment
procedure

Carry out experiment

Result and discussion

from experiment

Writing report

End

3.1 EQUIPMENT, APPARATUS AND CHEMICAL

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.

Kapok
Polypropylene
Crude oil
Diesel
Lubricating oil
Beaker
Container
Mesh basket
Shaker table

3.2 WATER ABSORBENCY TEST

ASTM F 726-99 procedure is used which is designed to test adsorbent

for water take up and must be performed at room temperature. Type I is
classified as commercial adsorbent like roll, film, pad, sheet and blanket wile
Type

II

adsorbent

is

classified

as

unconsolidated

materials,

particulate material without specific form and strength to be handled except

with scoops and related equipment. For type II adsorbent, the adsorbent is
considered as failed if 10% or more materials are sunk.
Weight the dry adsorbent and defined as W1 in gram

Place it the container which is filled with water

Place the containers cover on its opening and place it on shaker

table
Set amplitude of the shaker to 3cm and its frequency to 150 rpm
for 15 minutes (Record and observe the adsorbent)
Let it settle for 2 minutes

Strain the contents using mesh basket and drained for 30 seconds
Weigh drained sample and record it as W2

Calculate water absorbency test by using this formula:

Water absorbency=

W 2W 1
W1

Repeat the above steps for other types of adsorbents.

3.3 OIL ABSORBENCY TEST

The main objective to run this test is to determine optimum adsorbent

capacity without the presence of the water. According to the ASTM F 726-99,
if the thickness of the adsorbent is under 2.5 cm, the test liquid layer should
be minimum of minimum of 2.5 cm. If the thickness of the adsorbent is
thicker than 2.5 cm. so the test liquid layer should be at least thicker as the
adsorbent sample. The procedure must run at room temperature
Weigh the dry absorbent and defined as O1 in gram

Filled the container with oil until thickness is 2.5 cm

Place the adsorbent into the container

Place the containers cover on its opening and place it on shaker

table
Set amplitude of the shaker to 3cm and its frequency to 150 rpm
for 15 minutes

Let it settle for 2 minutes

Strain the contents using mesh basket and drained for 30 seconds
Weigh drained sample and record it as O2

Calculate water absorbency test by using this formula:

Oil adsorbency=

O 2O1
O1

Repeat the above steps for other adsorbents and types of oil

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