Evaluation of Oil-Sorption Properties of Kapok Fiber for Cooking Oils: A Potential Check for Oil-ridden Wastewater from Restaurants

Abstract

Abstract

Sewage is one of the leading sources of water pollution. The untreated water released from restaurants is the major contributor of oil pollution having devastating impact on aquatic life. Oil in water clogs pipelines, pumps and treatment equipment, decreases the efficiency of the plant and results in high maintenance and operation costs. The natural material, kapok fibers have the capability to significantly separate oil from water by entrapping oil droplets in its fibrous network. In the present work, kapok fibers were used in separation of cooking oils from restaurant wastewater to study the oil-sorption properties namely sorption capacity, dripping rate, retention capacity and reusability with several variables. The results indicate that kapok fibers adsorb cooking oil up to 55%. The adsorbed oils can be easily recovered from the fibers by manual squeezing and the recovered fibers can be used for several sorption-desorption cycles without loss in sorption capacity. The results suggest that kapok fibers can be used as a sorbent in effective filtration of oil from wastewater.

Keywords: Oil pollution, kapok fibers, adsorption, oil-sorption capacity

Cite this Article

Vidyashree S, Vijaya Holla, Vivek A, et al. Evaluation of Oil-Sorption Properties of Kapok Fiber for Cooking Oils: A Potential Check for Oil-ridden Wastewater from Restaurants. Journal of Water Pollution & Purification Research. 2016; 3(3): 15–22p.