Performance of Mesoporous Organosilicates on the Adsorption of Heavy Oil from Produced Water

The performance of mesoporous organosilicate materials in removal of soluble oil from wastewater is investigated. The aim of the study is to evaluate the oil adsorption over organosilicate prepared using pre-synthesis methods and compare the results with adsorption over pure siliceous mesoporous material. The materials were prepared using sol-gel technique using Dodecylamine (D) and Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as surfactant templates, and Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as silica precursor. The as-synthesized mesoporous materials were treated using three different methods to remove the surfactant from the mesoporous silica including calcinations method for total removal of the surfactant, the water vapor stripping and ethanol vapor stripping were used for partial removal of the surfactants. The synthesized materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and nitrogen adsorption. The materials were tested for heavy oils removal from oil-water solution. The results showed that neutral surfactant organosilicates have less adsorption compare to cationic surfactant organosilicates. The results also showed that among organosilicates prepared using neutral surfactant, treated organosilicate by ethanol vapor have the highest activity in removing the oil from the oil-water solution.