Multicomponent Photocatalytic-Dispersant System for Oil Spill Remediation

In the present work, the potential application of a fabricated halloysite nanotubes-Ag-TiO₂ (HNT-Ag-TiO₂) composite loaded with a binary surfactant mixture made up of lecithin and Tween 80 (LT80) in remediating oil spillages was examined. The as-prepared Ag-TiO₂ that was used in the fabrication of the HNT-Ag-TiO₂-LT80 composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, CV analyses, and SEM-EDX. The synthesized composite was also characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The synthesized composite was active in both the UV and visible light regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The oil-remediating potential of the as-prepared composite was examined on crude oil, and aromatics and asphaltene fractions of crude oil. The composite was able to reduce the surface tension, form stable emulsions and smaller oil droplet sizes, and achieve a high dispersion effectiveness of 91.5%. A mixture of each of the crude oil and its fractions and HNT-Ag-TiO₂-LT80 was subjected to photodegradation under UV light irradiation. The results from the GC-MS and UV-vis analysis of the photodegraded crude oil revealed that the photocatal composite was able to photodegrade the crude oil, aromatics, and asphaltene fractions of crude oil with the formation of intermediate photodegradation products depicting that the HNT-Ag-TiO₂-LT80 has a potential as an oil spill remediation material.