Removal of petroleum tar from bird feathers utilizing magnetic particles

Abstract

A previously reported acute temperature dependency for the effective removal of tarry residue from feather clusters, utilising magnetic particles, has also been demonstrated to occur for the plumage of whole birds, whereby a maximum removal of up to 96% may be achieved. The experimental design allows an approximate equilibrium constant, for the distribution of contaminant between the residue and the magnetic particles, to be estimated at each temperature. This allows the thermodynamics of the process to be examined via application of the van't Hoff equation, suggesting an explanation for the phenomenon.

Mathematical Model for the Sequestering of Chemical Contaminants by Magnetic Particles

“…These include: its use to remove contamination from oiled feathers (Orbell et al 2004;Dao et al 2006a), studies on the acute temperature dependence and thermodynamics of the pick-up process (Orbell et al 2005;Dao et al 2006b), the effect of pre-conditioners used in conjunction with iron powder for the removal of tarry and weathered oil (Dao et al 2006c;Orbell et al 2007) and its potential use to remove oil contamination from the surface of rock (Orbell et al 2007). …”