This study concerns the electrospinning of tragacanth nanofibers containing zinc oxide nanoparticles with the aim of separating sulfur compounds from crude oil. Zinc oxide incorporated tragacanth nanofibers were electrospun from tragacanth solutions containing zinc oxide nanoparticles with concentrations of 5, 10, 15, and 20 (% w/w). The average diameter of these nanofibers were 91.6, 94.1, 95.4, and 97.8 nm, respectively. SEM images showed that zinc oxide nanoparticles incorporated tragacanth nanofibers were uniformly electrospun with no beads. FTIR analysis showed some interactions between zinc oxide nanoparticles and tragacanth macromolecules.XRD studies showed a two phase microstructure consisting of semi-crystalline tragacanth matrix with zinc oxide crystallites dispersed in it. The highest filtration efficiency for 300 ml of Isfahan and Gachsaran crude oil was 75.3% and 62.2%, respectively. Moreover, the highest sulfur adsorption capacity obtained for Isfahan and Gachsaran crude oil was 211.20 mg g À1 and 108.19 mg g À1 , respectively.
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