Oil and oil products enters surface waters as a result of man-made disasters, caused, in particular, by military operations. In order to prevent ecological catastrophe, it is necessary to remove hydrocarbons from water surface. The paper is devoted to the development of materials for the extraction of non-polar liquids from aqueous media. Magnetic sorbents based on non-carbonized biopolymers (both plant cellulose and keratin) are proposed. Biopolymer matrices of different morphology on the level of fiber bundles were used for the composite preparation. Dependent on origin, the matrices are characterized by different morphologies at the level of fiber bundles: they are straight (cellulose obtained from wood and corn cobs), helical (cellulose of tea leaves or scaly (keratin from animal wool). Magnetite particles were inserted into biopolymer matrices after the removal of non-cellulose and non-keratin inclusions from them. The samples were investigated with SEM and FTIR techniques, magnetite was identified with XRD analysis. The most homogeneous distribution of magnetic particles, a size of which is less than 1 mm, was found for the matrix obtained from corn cobs. This composite contained the least amount of iron (0.24 mass. %), namely this sample demonstrates the best flotation. The sorbent based on cellulose from tea leaves contained 71% of iron: the particles sink almost completely. The capacity towards non-polar liquids was estimated as follows (g g–1): 1.6–8.6 (vegetable oil), 10.5–16.4 (crude oil), 9.8–14.5 (kerosene). After the removal of crude oil from water surface, no film of this liquid was visually observed. The value of chemical oxygen demand was » 0.2 mgO2 dm–3, this is less than the demand for drinking water. Moreover, the sorbent can be easy removed from water surface with magnet. As found, the sorbents can be used for removal of toxic metal ions from water. As found, magnetic particles improves sorption of Pb2+ ions but decrease Cd2+ sorption. Thus, the sorbents with small content of inorganic modifier can be used for the removal of oil and oil products from water surface. The sorbents, which demonstrate bad flotation, can be used for the recovery of inorganic ions. The advantages of biopolymer-based sorbents over known material is a simple preparation procedure that involves cheap and available feedstock. Moreover, the sorbents can be easy separated from aqueous phase with magnet.
A method for obtaining nanocomposite sorbents, which are selective towards Li+ ions, has been proposed. The samples were based on adsorptive-active anatase, the selective component being lithium-manganese spinel LiMn2O4. This component was synthesized preliminarily, its nanoparticles were added to the sol of insoluble titanium hydroxocomplexes, and the nanocomposite was precipitated from this suspension and calcined at 5000C. A number of sorbents with different molar ratio of Ti:Mn were prepared via this procedure; they were investigated by means of chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The size of nanocrystallites was 20–30 nm. An increase in the spinel amount caused a decrease in the sorbent grain size; however, they the sorbent grains were mechanically durable due to TiO2 which was a binder. Adsorption of Li+ from the solution containing an excess of Na+ ions was studied. The optimal amount of LiMn2O4 (13%) was determined. The sample was obtained in the form of rather large grains (0.3 mm) and the selectivity coefficient Li+/Na+ was about 500. The sorbent was regenerated by a 1 M HNO3 solution without manganese leakage. After 10 cycles of sorption-desorption, the concentrate was obtained. This concentrate can be used for Li2CO3 precipitation.
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